Oxford United Women came from behind to beat Cheltenham Town Ladies 2-1 at Court Place Farm this evening.
Phoebe Poole gave Cheltenham the lead just after half time but a Zoe Barratt double quickly had United in the lead.
Lily Stevens returned to the starting eleven after a long time on the sidelines with an ankle injury and almost unlocked the door within five minutes, overlapping Lacy Liggett and providing a dangerous cross that was somehow cleared by the Robinesses.
The early stages were transitional, and the U's needed to settle the game down. Kate Wiseman almost did that with a dangerous free kick into the box which Aimee Watson fumbled, but cleared at the second attempt.
In the 24th minute, Sam Rose was forced into an early change as Vitaliia Budaieva could not continue, and was replaced by Leah Burridge.
With five minutes of the half remaining, it looked like United were going to take the lead as Liggett broke down the right and delivered a menancing ball across the face of goal. As Zoe Barratt was about to pounce, Emily Owen slid in and diverted the ball inches over her own crossbar - excellent defending.
It was Cheltenham who had the best chance of the half though, when Henna Butcher broke through one-on-one but was met by the defiant Paris Sercombe who made an excellent stop with her legs and the sides went into the break goalless and level.
United hadn't been at the races, and Cheltenham made them pay quickly after the restart when the ball wasn't cleared and Poole finished confidently into the top left corner.
The U's woke up and galloped into life. Ellie Noble, who showed her class in the middle of the park, lofted a ball over to Barratt who lifted the ball over Watson to level the game within two minutes.
Then, straight from the restart, Izzy Cook, who signed from Cheltenham for the U's in summer, chased down a loose ball and took it round Watson who brought her down and was shown a yellow card as the referee pointed to the spot.
Barratt stood up to convert the penalty into the left side netting and turned the game totally on it's head with her second in three minutes.
If it wasn't for some marvellous defending, the Yellows would have had the game tied up shortly after, with both Barratt and Cook denied by goalline clearances from the Robinesses back line.
The U's had to work hard to grind out a result in the reverse fixture, and the same was true here. Sarah King replaced Liggett with ten minutes to play.
Cheyenne Flynn and Poppy Dearlove then replaced Stevens and Cook in injury time and United saw out the game to win for the first time in four games, made easier by Cheltenham going down to nine men after receiving two sin bins for dissent.
An important result ahead of a quick turnaround as they host Cardiff City Ladies on Sunday 17th March.
Lineup:
Sercombe, Provan, Gibson, Wiseman, Stevens (Flynn. 90+4'), Legg, Noble, Budaieva (Burridge, 24'), Cook (Dearlove 90+4'), Barratt, Liggett (King, 80').
Report by Billy Lawrence
