Cambridge City pick up first league win thanks to Faith Harrison’s two goals in victory over Wroxham

A quickfire brace by Faith Harrison gave Cambridge City their first Eastern Region Premier Division points of the season with a 2-1 home win over Wroxham on Sunday, writes Robert Coe.

The Lilywhites weathered a first-half onslaught by the visitors and while they eventually fell a goal behind, their determination was rewarded with two goals in three minutes for 16-year-old Harrison.

The equaliser came in the 58th minute after smart thinking by Isobel Beeson, who had an excellent game in defence. She took a quick free kick from a Wroxham offside and played a slide-rule ball into the path of Harrison, who sprinted away from the defence to calmly finish.

Then within 180 seconds City decisively gained the lead. Tye Smith, who had been causing problems down the left all afternoon, passed to Harrison and she bravely rode a challenge from the advancing keeper to score in the bottom far corner.

As the second half wore on Natasha Coe then went close to extending City’s lead before Harrison narrowly missed out on a hat-trick after being set up by Sakina Dhirani.

Manager Stewart Nicholls, whose team also have a prestigious FA Cup first-round tie to look forward to, was delighted with the result.

He said: “That was our best team performance. Bella was solid, Erica (Meale) made some great saves today, Tye battled well and Thea (Black) had a brilliant second-half performance.”

“We know what Faith can do to teams. The pace frightens the life out of defenders and she is only going to get better.

“It was great attitude in the team talk and even better attitude at half time. They all listened to the game plan and executed it well.”

City, who remain bottom of the Premier Division table, will switch their focus to the League Cup on Sunday (27 October) when they play host to lower-league Real Bedford Reserves at The New Croft in Haverhill.

Real Bedford’s second string have won four of their seven Division One North fixtures so far this term to sit in fourth position.