Sunday saw the Rugby Town Ladies play in the preliminary round of the Womens FA Cup against a team in the league above – Knowle. Rugby made a great start to the game, playing with confidence moving the ball around the pitch. The centre backs Abbie Hartfield and Bailey Wiggett were able to play positively distributing the ball out wide or picking the pass out forward. Kat Watkins and Andie Coupland did a great job in the middle, turning and moving the ball forward for Bobbie Baker to run at the Knowle attack and for the wide attacker Charlotte Anderton who had an excellent game.
The ladies played with control, passing and creating all over the pitch which was really positive to see. It wasn’t long before Bobbie Baker chased a loose ball down, with the ball at her feet in the box, she made no mistakes in converting using her right foot for 1-0.
Loren Bliss and Kelly Worthington were able to work well together down the left side of the pitch having some success and putting many balls into the Knowle box for Rugby to attack. A lapse in Rugby play, allowed Knowle to put on some pressure. Giving them too much space, a Knowle player had a shot from outside of the box and just lobbed the keeper for 1-1.
Despite conceding, Rugby were positive and lifted their game for the rest of the first half. Following a series of corners with Rugby fully in control, a corner swung in by Bobbie finally fell just right for Megan Board to get the touch into goal. The first half ended 2-1 to Rugby.
The second half was very much the same with most of the play being Rugby. The ladies controlled the ball from the back, playing it across the defence, and were not afraid to go back and start again each time. Kelly Worthington was able to make some great runs down the left, working hard and linking up well with players down that side, bringing multiple players into play. When Knowle did run at the Rugby defence, the defence of Charlie Foran, Abbie Hartfield, Bailey Wiggett and Kelly Worthington were able to deal with it and quickly get the ball moving forward exploiting the space on the pitch. A great game that sees the ladies through to the first round next weekend against Shenstone down at Kilsby Lane.
