What a fantastic afternoon for the girls as we booked our place in the First Round Proper of the FA Cup with a 3–0 win away at Hereford.
First and foremost, I’d like to extend our thanks to Hereford for their warm hospitality. It was a privilege to play at such a prestigious, historic ground, full of that special FA Cup magic that makes this competition so memorable.
From the first whistle, we were dominant in our performance, controlling possession and creating a number of excellent passages of play. The girls really showed their quality and composure throughout. That said, full credit to the Hereford goalkeeper, who was outstanding on the day — without her performance, the scoreline could easily have been even more emphatic.
There were some excellent individual performances across the pitch. Dolcie Sims and Em North were both superb, each staking a strong claim for player of the match. However, a special mention goes to Ria Elsmore, who stepped up to play out of position at centre-half and delivered a composed, disciplined, and accomplished performance.
It was also great to utilise our finishers, getting valuable minutes into the legs of the whole squad — something that will benefit us as the season progresses. The mood among the players was fantastic; travelling together on the bus made for a brilliant team atmosphere on the way home, celebrating what was a great result and performance.
Now, our focus turns back to domestic league action with a tough away trip to Redditch on Sunday. It will be a difficult test, but if we can carry the momentum and confidence from our FA Cup win into that fixture, we’ll give ourselves every chance of another strong result.
A proud day for the club — and another step forward for this group of players as we establish ourselves this season.
