QPR Women (4) – Caversham United Women (0)

Women’s FA Cup – Preliminary Round

Team: Pope, Petit, Searle, Carolan (Redhead-Ling), Grieve, Jordinson, Blodgett, Akerman (Nygaard-Parsons), Davies (Edwards), Moore, Hall

The QPR Women got their FA Cup campaign underway with the arrival at the Powerday Stadium of Caversham United, a side who compete three leagues below the R’s.

Lucie White was still unavailable so once again Erin Pope donned the goalkeeper’s jersey.

The first two goalscoring efforts of the afternoon fell to Katie Akerman. Her first attempt narrowly evaded the post and then her angled shot was finger-tipped behind for a corner.

Kasha Petit won a 50/50 tackle, which took her on to the bye-line and despite having her shirt tugged, the referee didn’t regard it as a foul.

Mel Hall put the R’s ahead within 11 minutes after a nice finish.

The visitors went close to an equaliser after they broke away at pace. Steph Nelson’s curled strike hit the underside of the crossbar and she claimed that the ball had crossed the line?

This was soon followed by a shot that whizzed just over the bar after the Rangers defence had failed to clear the ball.

 

Ellie Searle’s pace down the left-wing was certainly causing problems with the Caversham defence.

Her run after around 30 minutes took her into the box and her initial shot was stopped by Nina Merritt. However, the R’s winger then belted the follow-up into the roof of the net to double QPR’s lead.

A superb long ball over to Kasha Petit on the right-flank allowed her to proceed goalwards. From a wide-angled position, the Rangers wing-back shot directly into the Caversham keeper’s gloves.

At the other end, Vicky Grieve made a superb defensive challenge when she managed to wrap her foot around the ball from behind to avert the danger. Half-time: 2-0.

Mel Hall replaced Erin Pope in goal after the interval and Steve Quashie’s other early changes saw Demi Edwards and Emilia Nygaard-Parsons come on for Eshe Davies and Katie Akerman respectively. Later, Ailish Carolan made way for Merle Redhead-Ling.

Brogan Moore scored the R’s third goal following an excellent corner. I must mention once again the consistent quality of the players corners.

With the outbreak of fireworks in the vicinity, there was still time for a further goal. A great ball through the middle set up Demi Edwards and the R’s substitute calmly slotted the ball into the back of the net. The final whistle soon followed.

Rangers were later to be drawn at home to Bromley Ladies in the 1st round proper. The South London side play in the Greater London Women’s League.

Steve Russell