BURTON Albion's wait for an FAWNL Division One Midlands home win goes on as they fell to a disappointing 4-1 defeat to bottom side Bedworth United.
After initially giving Burton the lead with a powerful header early on, Danni Oxley could only watch in despair as her attempted clearance cancelled her opener out.
In the second half, two penalty conversions off the boot of Holly Webb would earn Bedworth their first points of the campaign - with Kirsty Farnsworth adding a fourth late in injury time.
It was a first half that lasted an astonishing 57 minutes, as stoppages in play meant that neither side could find a consistent rhythm.
Farnsworth, the striker who caused Burton all sorts of problems in their Cup meeting earlier in the season, was Bedworth’s danger woman again. After racing clear of the Burton defence, her shot was saved well by Alice Langstone.
The Brewers were presenting a threat themselves, however, and Oxley was unfortunate to see her low shot blocked in front of goal, following Ella Ritchie’s work to pick her out in the box.
In the 17th minute, Oxley would go one better and open the scoring for Burton. Emmalee Hornsby did well down the right-hand side and picked out a precise ball to the back post, where Oxley netted her third goal in two games with a header past Emma Dell.
Chances were few and far between in the game, but in the 40th minute Bedworth would hit back. A free kick which was swung into the box was met by Oxley, but unfortunately for the striker, she could only watch as her attempted clearance nestled in the bottom corner.
Burton responded well to the setback though, but Ritchie miscued her shot from the edge of the box, whilst Oxley was inches away with her dipping free kick.
Following the half-time interval, Bedworth would turn the game completely on its head when they took the lead. Beth Naqwi’s trip on Sophie Wilson allowed Webb to convert from the spot.
Albion didn’t let their heads drop, however, pushing forward in search of an equaliser. Emily Gillott had a good opening when she found space down the right, but her ball into the centre evaded the awaiting Oxley, and was cleared by Leonna McCook.
The continued pressure was eventually beginning to tell, but once again the Brewers couldn’t quite find the final pass. Ritchie did superbly to skip past three challenges and outpace the Bedworth defence, but her ball to Oxley was brilliantly tipped away by Dell before it could find the in-form attacker.
The away side were still posing danger, and nearly caught Burton out on the break a couple of times. Charlotte Jarvis was forced to make a sliding challenge inside the area to deny a free shot at goal before Alysha Stanley curled an effort way wide of the target.
As the game wore on, United seemed to get even more stubborn as they repelled every Burton attack with ease, in fact, Stanley almost put the game to bed when her free-kick had to be parried over by Langstone.
From the resulting corner, however, the game would be taken out of Burton’s reach. A goalmouth scramble resulted in the referee adjudging that Ciara Fray had handled the ball on the goal-line, awarding a penalty and subsequently giving the full-back her marching orders.
Webb stepped up once again, and found the same corner that she did with her first penalty, giving United a cushion in the closing minutes.
Now a woman down, with 10 minutes to play, Albion couldn’t muster a response despite their best efforts, and it would be Bedworth who would add to the scoreline.
Farnsworth ran across the edge of the box before firing a low shot under the body of Langstone to complete the perfect afternoon for the league’s basement club.
The Brewers have a free Sunday next weekend before returning to Rocester to take on Mansfield Town in the third qualifying round of the Vitality Women's FA Cup.