The girls in blue did themselves proud at the weekend as they reached the final of the North Valley League Consolation Cup.
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And at the weekend they took this confidence into their North Valley League Consolation Cup match, chalking up a win against Glenross to earn a deserved place in the final.
The match, on Bull Holme Playing Fields, was a hard fought game throughout. Glenross caused a scare early on when they hit the bar, but the Nelson girls took the lead soon after when Justine Lorriman's shot from the edge of the box flew into the net.
Glenross stepped up the pace in retaliation and the Nelson girls had to endure a sustained period of pressure. They defended well and looked like they could even score a second goal when breaking away on the counter attack.
But unfortunately the team's went in at the break level at 1-1 after Glenross managed to scramble a goal following a goalmouth melee, during which they hit the post and blocked the Nelson defence's attempts to clear the ball.
The second half looked like it could have posed a greater problem, as the Blues were playing slightly uphill and against the prevailing wind.
Glenross made their chances early in the half, and caused a big scare in another goalmouth melee but were unable to take the lead from it. The Nelson girls then punished their opponents at the other end as Lorriman was again on hand to hit home from close range as Nelson pushed forward with force.
With 20 minutes left on the clock the game was far from in the bag, but Nelson captain Charlotte Hartley, supported by Nabila Shafiq, attacked on the left hand side and could have converted on two occasions but found the Glenross goalkeeper equal to the task.
Glenross then created two good chances at the other end but determined efforts to close down the attacks by Rebecca Hartley and Melissa Lewis saw their efforts thwarted.
As the game drew to a close, Nelson looked the stronger and more likely of the two teams, and the threat of an equaliser subsided before being eliminated by the final whistle.
A well deserved win for the young ladies, and they now have their first cup final to look forward to, which will be against Haslingden Juniors on the 30th April at the home of Barnoldswick Town F.C.

