November 25, 2024
Photo courtesy of Marc Payne Photography.
Cheltenham Town Women advanced to the Third Round of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup with a tough 2-1 victory over Moneyfields Women.
In horrific, wet and windy conditions, The Robinesses came from behind to put their names into the hat with goals from Ffion Llewellyn (pictured) and Una Lue, after Charley Wilson-Wilton had originally put the visitors in front shortly after half-time.
The elements saw the game start as a scrappy affair, with both sides struggling to control and pass the ball. The visitors would be more creative in the early stages, with Shannon Albuery forcing a sharp stop from Mia Smith in the Cheltenham goal.
The Moneys would keep Smith on her toes, peppering the Cheltenham box with crosses with the Robinesses ‘keeper in top from to collect well in the conditions.
Clear cut chances eluded both sides, as Albuery and Wilson-Wilton combined well only for the resulting shot to clear the crossbar from close range.
Cheltenham looked to play direct, using pace and utilising space to run into, with Butcher and Lue causing the visitors problems. Moneyfields goalkeeper, Sara Luce, had to be quick off her line to stop any openings, as Cheltenham’s attackers looked to exploit the space between the back line and the shot stopper.
Shortly before half-time, Wilson-Wilton spurned a real opportunity for the visitors. A free-kick into the Cheltenham box was met by the prolific goalscorer, only to evade the woodwork and go over.
From the restart, Cheltenham countered quickly, beating Moneyfields’ offside trap to create a one-on-one with Luce but the backtracking Sky-Louise Granger managed to recover and clear the danger.
Moneyfields Manager, Karl Wilson, made a tactical substitution during the break, bring on Kim Fuller for Sam Fox, with Fuller setting up on the right wing and Britt Jeal moving more centrally.
The swap proved decisive, as the substitute Fuller floated a cross into the Cheltenham box for Wilson-Wilton to meet with a firm header. Smith got a hand to the ball to push it away, but unfortunately for the Cheltenham ‘keeper, the ball rebounded back to the Moneys’ striker, who nodded home unopposed.
Cheltenham refused to say die however, and pushed the issue, winning a number of corners but Luce was on hand to keep them out.
At the other end it was Smith’s turn to pull out a superb stop, as Albuery rifled a strike that looked for all to be finding the top corner, but the Cheltenham shot stopper did incredibly well to keep the effort out.
With the teams battling the elements as much as they had each other, Cheltenham won a free-kick at the edge of the Moneyfields box. Ffion Llewellyn stepped up to beat the wall and Luce low to her left to score her first goal for the Club.
With the clock ticking down and the intensity building, Cheltenham snatched a winner to avoid extra time.
In a moment Luce would rather forget, a flicked header by Lue was spilled in front of Henna Butcher, who rounded the Moneys’ ‘keeper, and held off her marker to square the ball across the face of goal for Lue to tap in almost from point blank range into an empty net.
Cheltenham celebrations were quickly quietened down as Moneyfields set to work to restore the draw, with Fuller testing Smith with a fierce low shot in injury time, but a superb reflex save kept the score at 2-1.
Cheltenham: Smith; Finch, Llewellyn, Owen; Trinci (Bell 65), Collis, Attenborough, Butcher, Hateley (Wellesley-Davies 60); Pemberton (Greenwood 65), Lue.
Cheltenham Player of the Match:
Chosen By Opposition: Mia Smith
Attendance: 76
