Charlton Athletic captain Rachel Newborough says that her side did not create enough goalscoring opportunities in their 2-0 defeat to Durham this afternoon.
Durham goalkeeper Megan Borthwick barely had a save to make as Charlton Athletic slipped to their first defeat of the season in the North East.
Kathryn Hill’s early strike gave Durham an early lead before Beth Hepple netted a controversial penalty kick in the second period for The Wildcats.
Speaking to FAWSL Full-Time after the match, Charlton Athletic defender Newborough admitted that the penalty award was harsh, although she highlighted other contributing factors to the defeat.
“There were a number of calls throughout the game where both teams were rattled by the decision of the referee and were trying to keep it composed;” Newborough said. “We will watch it back but the feeling during the game was that it wasn’t (a penalty), the ball was less than a metre away from her and her arm was tucked to her body, there was nothing that she could’ve done at that speed.
“A set piece at that point takes it to 2-0 and that makes it a very different game, we still had half an hour to play and we could have brought it back.
“It is really frustrating but we can’t just blame it on a decision like that. At the end of the day, we didn’t create enough opportunities and we didn’t score so we take responsibility rather than put it onto the ref.”
Charlton Athletic are just two games into the new season and with the unpredictable nature of this season’s FA Women’s Championship, Newborough knows that there are many more twists and turns ahead.
She added “It’s just the second game, you don’t want to read too much into it. Obviously, as a collective, we are disappointed with today. It is a long way to come and we thought that we would get a better product out of the game.
“Hats off to Durham, we all agreed that they had the bit between their teeth after last week and they came out all guns blazing and made it a really difficult and physical game for us.”
Charlton Athletic return to FA Women’s Championship action in a fortnight’s time when Blackburn Rovers are the visitors to The Oakwood.
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