Walker and Cole doubles bring Wasps six appeal

Crawley Wasps boss Paul Walker urged his side to keep grounded despite making their best start to a league campaign in 14 years.
By The Newsroom
Published 25th Oct 2017, 18:29 BST
Updated 8th Jun 2018, 03:29 BST
Bexhill United Ladies v Crawley Wasps reserves football action SUS-170310-113724002Bexhill United Ladies v Crawley Wasps reserves football action SUS-170310-113724002
Bexhill United Ladies v Crawley Wasps reserves football action SUS-170310-113724002

Centre-back Holly Walker and skipper Naomi Cole both scored twice as Wasps beat Aylesford 6-1 on Sunday for their sixth win in six games in the London & South East Premier Division.

The last time they achieved that was in 2003-04 when they won the first nine, three divisions further down the pyramid.

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“I couldn’t be happier with the start to the season,” Walker said. “There’s a lot of ingredients that are going into it.

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“But we won’t get ahead of ourselves. The trick is to not get complacent and keep the level of performance up.”

Wasps scored twice in the first five minutes at Aylesford. A Cole corner dropped to Walker for her opener, before Lauren Callaghan crossed for Ariana Fleischman to sweep home.

Aylesford pulled one back on 11 minutes, when keeper Frankie Gibbs was closed down by Rebecca Parkin after Walker’s short backpass, but Wasps scored again almost immediately as Jade Elphick released Faye Rabson, who finished coolly.

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The excellent Elphick then had a shot tipped over before Walker stooped to head in Cole’s corner. A foul on Rosanne Fine allowed Thales player of the match Cole to add a fifth from the spot and she curled in brilliantly from distance late on, with Callaghan denied by a superb Sara McFadden save.

Wasps: Gibbs; Carter, Niamh Stephenson, Walker, Ward; Elphick, Cole; Rabson, Fleischman, Callaghan; T. Smith. Subs: Duncan, Boyd, Fine.

Wasps reserves are also top of their league – the South East Counties Premier Division – after an excellent 3-2 win over previous leaders Kent Football United.

Goalkeeper Lauren Graves, 16, made important saves before Rebekah Dunt put Wasps ahead, only for the visitors to score twice in three minutes. Nicholle Smith levelled and Natalie Stephenson’s free-kick from the edge of the box proved to be the winner.