MINEHEAD gained a 2-0 home win over Burnham United Ladies in their opening game of the season in Division Two of the Somerset Sunday Football League.

The first half was pretty non-eventful. Minehead got into Burnham’s half frequently but were thwarted with every attempt to penetrate the box. Burnham were happy to knock it long, which meant the back three of Alana, Bonita, and Darcy could never switch off. This trio were comfortably Minehead’s best performers in the first half.

Then the lacklustre half had a flash point. Confusion over a ball going out of play meant the Burnham defence momentarily switched off, with no whistle forthcoming from the referee, Minehead played on, resulting in last season’s player of the season, Emeral, getting off the mark for the new campaign and giving The Blues a 1-0 half-time lead.

The second half kicked off very much in the same vein as the first; the pre-season cobwebs were still lingering, and both teams were unable to put anything of note together. As the minutes ticked by, there were glimpses of Minehead finding some rhythm and producing some patterns of play with more attempts on goal. One of these finally resulted in their all-important second goal.

After some neat build-up, skipper Erin found herself 25 yards out and fired into the bottom corner. It was subtle relief for The Blues as they knew they hadn’t been at their sparkling best. This second dampened the visitors’ spirits, and the game petered out.

Debutant Kayleigh was unfortunate not to add a third late on, hitting the post as the final whistle sounded on a comfortable opening day win for The Blues.

This was a positive start to life in Division 2 for this young squad. Coming next is a trip to the North Somerset Community Stadium to face Clevedon Town. Player of Match: Bonita.