Oxford United Women made the long trip to Plymouth Argyle this afternoon and ran out 3-1 winners, despite conceding an early goal. United hit back with three second-half strikes from Leah Burridge, Zoe Barratt and Vita Budaieva to claim their first three points of the season.
Playing at Home Park, United found themselves a goal down after just nine minutes, when Taya Pomfret headed home from a corner. Oxford went on to dominate possession but were unable to break down Plymouth's stubborn defence to go in at the break with a one-goal deficit.
It didn't take long for Oxford to level things up. With just five minutes of the second half played, Barratt found Burridge, who fired home from long range to beat Argyle keeper Felgate and make it 1-1.
Barratt gave United the lead midway through the second period, tapping home from a Phoebie Pool cross after United won back possession on the edge of the Argyle area. Substitute Budaieva, on for Poole just five minutes earlier, secured the points with five minutes remaining, the Ukrainian winning the ball just outside the Plymouth area and rounding Felgate to make it an emphatic come-back victory.
Manager Sam Rose said afterwards: "It was loads better in the second half; I think the changes that we made helped to open up the play a little bit because after they went 1-0 up, Plymouth sat behind the ball really deep and made things difficult for us.
"It was a real team effort today. Beth Howard has made a fantastic save to keep it at 1-1; our two centre forwards got a goal and an assist; the skipper Leah got us back into the game with an effort from way out that gave us the belief to go and try to win the game; and Vita's come off the bench to put the game to bed."
United: Howard, Gibson, Wiseman (Wellesley-Smith 90+2), Creaney, Cook (King 60), Barratt, Poole (Budaieva 80), Sealey (Trinder 60), Gotch, Oliver (Richardson 90+2), Burridge
Unused subs: Sercombe, Legg
Attendance: 726
Report: Martin Brodetsky; Photography: Darrell Fisher
