Vitality Women’s FA Cup 3rd Round Qualifying
Team: Francis-Pownall, Shephard, Searle, Owen, Blodgett, Lewin, Webster, Hill, Stanley, Petit, McCrea
Subs: Carolan, Fatri, Nygaard-Parsons
After meeting up with Sammy at Park Royal, we proceeded to Waterloo Station to take the train to Haywards Heath.
We bumped into Chris Hewitt outside the station, and we then shared a cab to the Hanbury Park Stadium.
The first goalscoring opportunity of the afternoon fell to the away side. After Grace Stanley had received the ball in space, the R’s striker’s shot was comfortably held by the keeper.
At the other end, the Town No.15’s free kick was successfully knocked behind by Mya Francis-Pownall.
After getting herself into a widish position close to goal, Grace Stanley let fly and Libby Kingshot made a good save.
The home side took the lead after 13 minutes when Skye Bacon slotted the ball into the bottom corner.
From QPR’s first corner, Georgie Lewin’s cross was headed over the crossbar by Emily Hill.
Keepers regularly get away with it, so there was some surprise when Mya Francis-Pownall was adjudged to have taken her goal kick from just outside the area. The resulting free kick was then belted over the crossbar.
The Town’s No.3 broke away down the right-wing and following her cross into the box, the R’s keeper made a superb save. Half-time: 0-1.
Into the second-half and it was the home side who went close to adding a second goal after a deep cross was headed just wide of the target.
Then, just after, Grace Stanley got into a one-on-one position with Libby Kingshot, but the Town keeper made a very good stop with her legs.
Steve Quashie brought on Emilia Nygaard-Parsons at the expense of Frankie Webster. And shortly after, Assia Fatri replaced Grace Shephard.
In the 74th minute, Rangers went very close to an equaliser after three successive attempts at goal. One effort hit the upright, another one was saved, and this was followed by a number of appeals from Rangers players claiming that the ball had crossed the line.
But a minute later, Haywards Heath doubled their lead, courtesy of Rhiannon Hambleton.
The final change saw Ailish Carolan coming on for Izzy Owen.
Haywards Heath secured their place in the next round when an in-swinging corner came off of Ailish Carolan and into the back of the net.
Next up for Steve Quashie’s side was a trip to Suffolk to take on AFC Sudbury.
Steve Russell