Essex County Women’s Challenge Cup

Quarter-Final

 Sunday 26^th January 2003

 Chelmsford City 3 – 5 Barking

     A CUP upset looked to be on the cards when Chelmsford City played host to National League side Barking on Sunday, a team whose status is seven divisions higher than City in the Women’s Pyramid system.

In an early raid, City striker Emma Ridings beat the Barking goalkeeper, former City player Michelle Bridgman, to the ball but saw her flick over the keeper cleared off the line by a covering defender.

City, sponsored by Mercedes-Benz Direct, were matching their illustrious opponents in every department as they constantly closed players down denying them time and space on the ball.

But the visitors took the lead on 30 minutes with a shot which evaded the City goalkeeper’s grasp. The speed of Ridings and Foakes was a constant worry for Barking and it was Ridings who was on hand to deservedly level the scores with a well taken goal five minutes later to send City’s supporters into raptures.

This spurred Barking into action and they soon restored their advantage following a swift counter-attack which saw the ball quickly moved forward, catching City on the break.

Moments later, they extended their lead to 3 – 1.  City failed to deal with a corner, and a forward sneaked through a crowd of defenders to score.

The second half saw Chelmsford’s defence, prompted constantly by their impressive skipper, Elizabeth Marshall, work tirelessly to deny Barking, too many chances.

The game exploded into life after 60 minutes with City netting two goals in as many minutes to level the tie.

Ridings battled to dispossess an opponent and immediately played a great ball which cut open the Barking defence with Foakes having time and space to calmly tuck the ball past Bridgman.

A minute later, Lucy Garrett was perfectly positioned to drill an unstoppable shot into the bottom of the net.

 The large crowd were sensing an upset was on the cards but a double substitution by Barking saw fresh legs introduced and two late goals saw the game finally swing the way of the visitors, who thus secured a place in the semi-finals.

City manager Dave Clout was full of praise for the way his side had applied themselves and pushed Barking all the way which also drew admiration from their opponents.