Hartlepool United Women 'frustrated' after losing season opener against Spennymoor Town Ladies

Hartlepool United Women lost their North East Regional Women’s Football League Premier Division opener against Spennymoor Town Ladies at Grayfields.

Hartlepool twice took the lead against Spennymoor only to get pegged back on each occasion as the Moors ran out 5-3 winners at Grayfields.

Steph Bilcliff opened the scoring for Pools midway through the first half when touching in Lauren Gray’s cross at the near post.

Bage’s side were then undone by two set pieces as Caitlin Bates’ corner found a way in at the back post before another Bates corner, this time met by Alice Welch-Davison, saw Moors take the lead.

Pools responded immediately as Robyn Foster equalised within three minutes before 2022-23’s player of the year handed the initiative back to the home side early in the second half when latching onto Zara Johnson’s through ball.

Moors levelled quickly when Katie Hemmingway poked in another equaliser five minutes later before the away side regained the lead 15 minutes from time when Courtney Mole struck well through a crowded penalty area.

And the away sealed the win soon after when Hemmingway added her second with a speculative effort from distance which found the top corner.

The key takeaways from Wealdstone win

"It was very frustrating,” said Bage.

"I think 5-3 flatters them as well if I’m being very honest. But it was a good game with two competitive sides.

“We took the lead and went 3-2 up and then for some reason we switched off.

“They equalised and a couple of little knocks and changes upset us a little bit and they end up walking away with the win. Credit to them, I won’t take it all away from them, they did play some good football but it’s a learning curve.”

Bage added: “It’s something myself and the coaching team will review. I still can’t get my head around what went wrong. When we were putting the ball on the floor and into the channels we looked dangerous but then for some reason we resorted to playing a long ball. I don’t know why, I haven’t got the answers yet. I need to look back on it.

“But I take positives out of it, there was some really good football played. They’ll be fine. The lasses will react.”