Chippenham Ladies first team travelled to leaders Plymouth at the weekend for their last match before the Christmas break. From the whistle Chippenham were under pressure and Debbie Price in defence had to make several well-timed tackles to keep the home side at bay, setting the tone for the entire match.

Under constant pressure from the slick passing moves of their opponents, the pressure soon told and Jane Smedley was the first player to be warned by the Umpires.

Rebecca Roberts playing up front worked tirelessly but Chippenham soon found out why Plymouth are top.

A series of three penalty corners were awarded to the home side, all of which were perfectly slotted home leaving the Chippenham goalkeeper and defenders with no chance.

At the break Plymouth had a healthy 3-0 lead.

After the break Chippenham’s Jen Smale and Sarah Stenner both had make goal-mouth saves to keep the scoreline down.

Tracy Doughty in goal also played her part – using both dives, stick stretches and pad rebounds.

Despite the pressure, Chippenham mounted several useful attacks through Laura Carey on the right and Rhiannon Roberts putting in the crosses.

But as the half wore on, the match went pear-shaped. Chippenham’s Sabina Falcone was shown a yellow card for a professional foul and this was followed shortly after by a yellow card for Georgina Bailey.

This left the visitors with just nine players on the pitch against a fired-up eleven man Plymouth side and the match was further tarnished with Fiona Wanliss was also shown a yellow card after a 50/50 challenge for the ball.