Generals cup runneth over St Peter
New Bradwell St Peter Ladies – 0
Chesham United Women – 3
N Smith 46’ N Makowska 60’ G Fraser 73’
20th October 2024
For forty-five minutes this was a cup tie where the higher ranked side found a resilient defence difficult to breach, but the half-time team talk paid dividends as Chesham United Ladies broke the deadlock within seconds of the restart & go on to comfortably beat New Bradwell St Peter Ladies.
The hosts were semi-finalists in the Berks & Bucks Women’s Senior Cup last season, but the journey this term fell at the first hurdle against their FA Women’s National League opponents, a red card for Mollie Alderson just after United doubled their advantage compounding their misery.
The Milton Keynes based club put up a sterling defensive performance during the opening forty-five and had a couple of efforts of note, but once Chesham got their noses ahead through Natasha Smith, the outcome seemed inevitable.
The team in yellow & black dominated the early stages and home custodian Shay Burgess had to dive bravely at the feet of one attack, St Peters first opportunity came when Lottie Jones intercepted the away defence trying to play out but she could only find the side netting.
Megan Smart was next to try her luck for the hosts, from midfield she advanced before firing inches wide of the Chesham goal, but the best chance of the half came when Burgess competing for a cross at her front post saw the ball drop to Gemma Fraser who smashed over the top.
The step four outfit finally broke the deadlock fifty-one seconds after the break, Bradwell losing possession some forty yards out resulted in three quick passes to feed Smith to the left of the box, her drive crashing in off the underside of the crossbar.
Within moments the home side again gave the ball to their opponents but this time Burgess came to the rescue, Lilia Stokes providing some respite for the claret & blue rearguard as she fired across the area but wide of the far upright, closely followed by a shot that was cleared off the goal line.
Any hopes of a fightback were then smashed on the hour, A United corner drilled in from the left saw a desperate claret & blue defence unable to clear allowing Natalia Makowska to drive inside the near post, from the kick-off Alderson sent off for a challenge on Victoria Collett.
From there the visitors enjoyed space and freedom to probe for more, Fraser had a looping effort bounce up off the top of the bar before being hastily cleared, but with just over quarter of an hour to go, she found space to the right of goal to lift over Burgess and into the net.
The National League outfit did score again in added on time however a raised flag denied, the final whistle eventually sounded to the relief of some very tired legs. F/T: 0-3
Competition: Berks & Bucks FA Women’s Senior Cup First Round
Venue: Recreation Ground
Kick-Off: 2:00pm
Surface: Grass
Please Note: If you use any of our material or images, please ensure you credit sportsshots.org.uk
(NBSP) For latest East Midlands Women’s Regional Football League Division One South table & upcoming fixtures please: click here
(CUFC) For latest FA Women’s National League Division One South-East table & upcoming fixtures please: click here
