Yeovil Women’s Week 6 Round Up

Yeovil Town Women Create FA Cup History

Match Round Up

Yeovil Town Women booked their place in the first round proper of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup as they beat Southampton Women on Sunday. As they did in the previous round, Paul Knight’s side qualified via penalty kicks after a closely fought 90 minutes. With their opponents being two leagues above, it was an achievement to be proud of for the Glovers.

Paul Knight made four changes to the side who beat Weston-super-Mare last time out, as Ava Beattie, Chloe Davenport, Jess Hodge and Zoe Ball came into the starting eleven.

The Glovers started brightly, as Abbie Carslake and Chloe Davenport combined in the final third, with the attack failing to develop into a goal scoring chance.

Yeovil had several chances to take the lead early in the half but failed to break the deadlock.

As the half progressed, Southampton began to grow into the match, with Charlotte Johnson being called into action as she confidently claimed a dangerous cross from the visitors.

Despite this, Yeovil responded perfectly as the deadlock was finally broken in the 35^th minute. Zoe Ball finished after impressive build up from the hosts, with her first goal of the season proving to be an important one.

Yeovil went in at the break one goal to the good.

In a second half in which Yeovil had chances to put the tie to bed and book their place in the first round proper, a second goal did not arrive. The one goal deficit kept the visitors within touching distance of the hosts.

As the half wore on, the Saints managed an equaliser in the 81^st minute. Charlotte Johnson’s gallant clean sheet effort was cancelled out as the visitors levelled it up from a corner.

Moments later, Yeovil’s young centre half Daisy Evans received her second yellow card and was sent off, to add insult to injury.

Despite conceding late and having one less player, the Glovers continued to push, as Niamh Nicholls shot wide in the 88^th minute.

The affair finished all square, and Yeovil would have to prevail on penalties once again in the FA Cup. Similarly to the previous round against Pucklechurch, Paul Knight’s side would have felt that with extra time they would have got the job done.

This tie all but confirmed that the penalty woes of last season were no more for Yeovil, as they won 4-2 on penalty kicks to confirm their place in the first round proper of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup. Terri Will, Niamh Nicholls, Charlotte Johnson and Abbie Carslake scored for the Glovers.

That’s what they said

Yeovil Town Women manager Paul Knight provided his thoughts after his team’s victory.

Paul began, “I’m still shaking, that was edgy. It’s one of those games, it’s so frustrating because we could have just won it early on. I’m buzzing at the minute, over the moon for the girls, they’ve dug deep. We were the better side today by far, I really believe that and I think to go to penalties was quite flattering, it got a little bit scrappy in the second half, but that’s football”.

Paul discussed his team’s early pressure and the opposition’s attempts to defy his team, “Until we scored the first goal we were going to change the system, because it was obvious for all to see today that they came with a system to block us. They’re two leagues higher so if they’re going to play a block and hit us on the counter it’s quite dangerous but I just don’t feel like they ever threatened us. Literally just before we scored we were going to change the formation, once we scored they didn’t really come at us and we just sat with it really. Our plans going into the second half were really just about overloading their backline and we had our opportunities, we really did and for me we should have come away two or three to the good.”

Finally, Paul explained the thought behind his team selection and the penalty takers, “I did change it up, we’ve had a few injuries and a few sicknesses. The first time we did it we threw them into it, I know who can take penalties and they were almost perfect. Today I felt a bit more nervous with it, I felt like the girls had overthought the penalty taking, but they’ve pulled it out of the bag. They’ve done their thing, we made the odd change but we look good when it comes to penalties”.

Paul Knight shares his thoughts after yesterday’s Adobe Women’s FA Cup game against Tier 4 side Southampton Women #YTFC 💚 pic.twitter.com/ZYtoEefNRe

— Yeovil Town Women FC (@YTWomenFC) October 14, 2024

Up Next

Following the draw, Yeovil have been drawn away to Cheltenham Town in the first round proper of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup.

The Glovers return to action next Sunday 20^th October, as they travel to Plympton in the Regen Arable Division One South 14:00 KO.