Dale Women were beaten 2-1 by Manchester Laces in the final of the Greater Manchester Women’s Football League Challenge Cup on Wednesday.
Dale started the brighter of the two teams, playing some good football and creating chances.
However, they couldn’t find the opener and were hit on the break by Laces, who broke the deadlock with a deft chip from outside the area.
Their second followed soon after when a mistake at the back gifted them a route to goal, which was finished clinically.
Dale halved the deficit before the breakthrough Shannon Gill and after some changes at the break, there was a big improvement from Lee Atkinson’s side.
However, despite some good football, they couldn’t find the all-important equaliser.
Emma Flynn joined Dale’s long injury list and the game slipped away from them.
Manager Atkinson commented: “It just wasn’t to be tonight. Things didn’t go our way.
“Credit to Laces, they chased every ball and fought really hard for everything. We were better after the break, but we lost the game in that first-half.
“We will come back strong though. It’s been a tough two months for us with our fixture congestion, but we’re looking forward to the future.”
