Capital Women’s Cup
Team: Merrett, Curr, McCrea, Owen, Blodgett, Lewin, Petit, Hill, Stanley, Akerman, Searle
Subs: Carolan, Shephard, Cohen, Webster, Nygaard-Parsons
After meeting up with Sammy, we made our way to Waterloo before heading on to Dorking Main Station. The walk to the Meadowbank Stadium was then a good 20/25 minutes.
Into the game and some quick thinking from Renai McCrea saw her cut across to clear a dangerous ball in the box.
The home side were awarded a fortunate free kick and the resulting shot at goal, from around 25 yards, flashed just wide of the post.
At the other end, Grace Stanley got herself one-on-one with Megen Lynch, but her effort was kept out by the keeper’s legs.
It had been a fairly-even encounter until Grace Stanley opened the scoring in the 16th minute. After being played into the box, the R’s striker steered the ball, low, into the back of the net.
Dorking equalised two minutes later when Rachael Manley slotted the ball wide of Courtney Merrett.
The hosts took the lead after 22 minutes when the ball was knocked into the six-yard box and Abby Delves did the rest.
As the R’s looked for a second equaliser, Ellie Searle’s cross from the left-wing found Grace Stanley, but her header lacked power, which resulted in a goal-kick.
Rangers did add a second goal after 26 minutes. Ellie Searle was the provider and Grace Stanley was the finisher.
However, Charlotte Crook regained the lead for the Wanderers eight minutes later.
The R’s equalised for a third time five minutes or so before the break when Grace Stanley completed her hat-trick. After some excellent control, she lobbed the ball into the net.
As the interval drew closer, Rangers took the lead. After the Wanderers’ keeper had stopped Grace Stanley’s initial effort, Alice Curr then got the final touch from close range.
The away side could well have surrendered the lead, but for Courtney Merrett’s brave close range save after the ball had been given away in the box. Half-time: 4-3.
The first opportunity of the second-half fell to Emily Hill who, seeing the Wanderers’ keeper way off her line, her long-range effort narrowly evaded the target.
Steve Quashie’s first change of the afternoon saw Emilia Nygaard-Parsons coming on for Izzy Owen and it was later followed by Frankie Webster replacing Renai McCrea.
Katie Akerman was shown a yellow card for seemingly just rolling the ball back for a Dorking free kick!
On 72 minutes, Kasha Petit was moved over to the left-flank, and this was followed by the introduction of Ailish Carolan. Zoe Cohen was also brought on shortly after.
Nothing on target from the R’s since the break and the home side were certainly having the best of it. So it was no surprise when Dorking equalised after around 80 minutes, courtesy of Sarah Sparrow’s 25-yard free kick.
The final change saw Grace Shephard coming on for Kasha Petit.
Rangers picked up their game and after 88 minutes, Grace Stanley, in a widish-left position forced a good save from Megen Lynch and the ball went behind.
And dramatically from the resulting corner, Emily Hill was well placed to head the ball into the back of the net!
Then, Rangers most definitely should have been awarded a penalty after Grace Stanley was absolutely flattened in the box!
The R’s successfully saw out the closing moments and therefore booked their place in the next round.
Steve Russell