Blues winning streak comes to an end as Lincoln United clinch the title

Despite a brave and battling performance by the Blues, Lincoln United were simply far too strong on the day as they have been throughout the entire season.

Despite the scoreline, it was actually the visitors who had the first big opportunities of the match after only three minutes played. Striker Romy Sheppard had an attempt which flashed across the face of goal before being collected by full-back Sophie Hopkinson. Hopkinson’s close-range effort was then well blocked. From the following corner kick, a goalmouth scramble ensued and saw the Blues come agonisingly close to taking an early lead. It was very hard to tell who was the last Chesterfield player to actually steer the ball on target but the ball was cleared away in the nick of time by the hosts. There were strong appeals that the ball had crossed the goal line but the referee and his assistant were not convinced.

Lincoln United immediately went on the attack and the rest of the first half saw Chesterfield try and soak up huge amounts of pressure.

Chesterfield’s player of the match was undoubtedly goalkeeper Nic Stokes who was called into action frequently and made a serious of outstanding saves. In the 12th minute, Stokes did superbly to deny Lincoln’s star player Ellie Gilliatt before making a great save from a Whites free-kick two minutes later.

The pressure from the hosts was simply too much though and Gilliatt gave Lincoln United the lead in the 17th minute with a confident finish from inside the penalty area.

With the deadlock broken, Lincoln’s confidence soared even higher and they doubled their advantage just four minutes afterwards. Not long after the re-start, defender Steph Warren made an outstanding goal-line clearance before repeating her heroics within the following five minutes.

Just when the visitors looked to have calmed the storm, the Whites struck twice more in the closing stages of the first half to take a 4-0 lead at the interval. A well-placed 12 yard finish following a right wing delivery beat Stokes to make it 3-0 while a Lincoln United forward was quickest to react inside the penalty area following a save by Stokes to grab a fourth goal with virtually the last touch of the half.

Chesterfield Ladies improved in the second half and showed some real grit and determination to restrict the hosts from having as many chances as they did in the opening 45 minutes.

Chesterfield’s best opportunity in the second half arrived only five minutes after the interval when top goal scorer Imogen Fowler saw her shot from 25 yards out steered narrowly wide of the target.

Two minutes later, Nic Stokes made one of the saves of the season when she dived to her left and tipped a rapid Whites effort onto the post.

It took until the 70th minute for Lincoln to find a fifth goal and it was at this point that the game began to peter out and lose its intensity.

With the East Midlands Women’s Premier Division title in their grasp, Lincoln found time to grab one more goal in the closing stages of the game to make it 6-0.

The full-time whistle marked a heavy defeat for Chesterfield Ladies but they went toe-to-toe against a side who have won every single league game this season and have scored a huge amount of goals in almost every single match they’ve played in the 2023/24 campaign.

Despite the defeat to a very impressive side, the Blues still find themselves in an excellent position. Just one more win from their last three league games will guarantee Chesterfield Ladies a second place finish in the league table. After the league campaign has ended, the Blues will then have the opportunity to retain the Derbyshire Women’s County Cup on Wednesday 1st May.