FA Women’s Cup

Second Qualifying Round

 Sunday 25^th September 2005

 Chelmsford City 9 – 0 Newport Pagnell Town

    CHELMSFORD City stormed through to the First Round proper of the FA Women’s Cup on Sunday, with a rejuvenated team performance earning them a resounding 9 – 0 victory over Newport Pagnell Town.  City had the ball in the net after only two minutes but Sarah Jolly saw her close-range effort ruled out for offside.

    Jolly soon opened the scoring in the 13^th minute when she latched onto a superb defence splitting pass by Laura Brown to drill the ball past the keeper.  Emma Ridings gave City a two goal cushion with a typical clinical finish in the 19^th minute after side stepping the defender to tuck the ball home from inside the box. Elizabeth Marshall was making superb overlapping runs down the right wing which caused numerous problems for the visitors defence but with no further goals, City enjoyed a two goal cushion at the break.

    City were no less determined going into the second half, with Ridings immediately notching another three goals in the 47^th, 53^rd and 54^th minutes, to effectively kill off the resistance of the young Newport Pagnell side. The ‘Clarets’ thought they had increased their lead on 60 minutes but a Ridings effort was disallowed for offside as City were enjoying a period of dominance.

    With a comfortable lead now established, City were playing some fluent passing football, with good build-up play in midfield. This led to City’s 6^th goal, substitute Catherine Hyland, combining well with Lucy Garrett on the right culminating in Ridings inch perfect cross being converted by Sharon Brownlie at the far post after 68 minutes. 5 minutes later, a sweetly struck effort from Jolly extended City’s lead further.

    To their credit, the visitors began to enjoy a period of sustained pressure themselves and very nearly pulled a goal back in the 80^th minute, when a crisp shot struck the City upright. This inspired City once more and Jolly completed her hat-trick in the 82^nd minute with a lob over the advancing keeper before Brownlie curled a superb right foot shot into the top right hand corner with three minutes remaining to complete the scoring.

    Chelmsford will now make the short trip to face higher league opposition in Combination League side Dagenham & Redbridge on October 23^rd 2005.