RAF Women gets title defence off to a flying start with win over Navy

The Royal Air Force women's football team have beaten the Navy 0-3 in the first game of the Inter Services.

The reigning Inter Services champions got off to a slow start as the Navy provided a challenging opening first half for the light blues.

But the RAF came back strongly in the second half with a penalty kick from Cat Beaver and goals from Lucy Farrow and Abby Hayes to give them the win over the Navy.

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The first half saw the Navy start off strongly and throwing down the gauntlet to the defending champions, with the Navy looking like they were controlling the first half of the game. 

There were several missed opportunities by the Navy however, as RAF goalkeeper Emily Gascoyne was on hand to act decisively whenever the Navy came within striking range. 

At half-time the scoreboard remained scoreless at 0-0, as both the Navy and the RAF looked to find a way to apply pressure on their opponents.

In the second half, the RAF were handed an opportunity after the Navy's Katie Shorter knocked down the RAF's Pip Wilson and a penalty was awarded. 

Team Captain Cat Beaver took the penalty and struck the ball to the back of the net to gain the first goal of the game, putting the RAF up 0-1. 

It did not take the RAF long to take advantage of a momentum swing that was leaning their way, as Lucy Farrow followed up with a fantastic strike amongst Navy defenders, to give the RAF a 0-2 advantage. 

The Navy did their utmost to regain the form they were running on in the first half as plenty of time remained for them to regain the narrative of the game. 

The RAF however began to prove why they were the reigning champions, and Abby Hayes found herself in the right place to extend their lead, scoring the RAF's third goal of the game to extend the RAF's lead to 0-3. 

As the Navy and the RAF made their substitutions, the gap was just too big for the Navy to close-up on in such a short space of time. 

As the final whistle blew, the RAF take away their first win of the tournament as their quest to retain their Inter Services title gets off to a flying start. 

The RAF will have to wait for the Navy to face the Army in Aldershot next week before they can take on the reds at Leek Town FC in two weeks’ time.