FOOTBALL: Ilminster Ladies exit the FA Women's Cup

ILMINSTER Town Ladies suffered a disappointing FA Women's Cup exit on Sunday (September 3, 2017) in their opening match of the 2017-18 season.

The Blues went down 4-0 at Warsash Wasps Ladies in Hampshire in the First Qualifying Round of the competition.

Full debuts came for Charlotte Johnson in goal, Amy Jones in defence, Charlie Pettinger and Lucy Pitman in midfield as Ilminster looked to make a positive start to the new campaign.

But Town did not start well as they fell behind in the first minute of the match.

A ball worked down the right-hand side of the pitch found its way to the wide player for Warsash who cleverly hit a shot towards the far corner, only to be denied by the post and defender Sammie Knight to clear the ball off the line.

But her efforts were to no avail as a Warsash attacker ran onto the loose ball and struck home from all of six yards to put Ilminster behind.

The first-half was end to end with Warsash finding slightly more space and creating a few more chances, but it was Town who came closest to scoring the next goal when a good piece of work through the Ilminster midfield, resulted in the ball finding the feet of young midfielder Maisie Poole who took the ball in her stride to beat one defender and try to place a shot low to the keeper’s right but it was stopped and held well.

That was all the action for the first half and the Town went in at half-time 1-0 down.

The second-half started much like the first! Warsash broke away down the right-hand side quickly, for the ball to find its way out to the edge of the box, where a shot was struck, which proved tricky for Town’s new keeper Charlotte Johnson to deal with, and the ball found its way just under the crossbar and in the back of the net.

Going 2-0 down so quickly into the second-half was a big blow to Ilminster.

The next goal came in the 69th minute to see Town fall 3-0 behind. A deep ball was played in from the right-hand corner, the ball fell kindly at the feet of a Warsash attacker, who brought it under control and struck home to put the game all but out of Town’s reach.

However, Warsash did not give Ilminster time to get back into the game and two minutes later they found themselves 4-0 down. The ball bounced around in the box and after a deflection or two it found its way to a Warsash attacker who placed the ball low into the net.

Ilminster did put together some good football at times throughout the match with the ball being played well out from the back.

It was not an easy game for new keeper Charlotte Johnson, but she showed that she has got a good kick on her and she also made some fine saves – the most notable being in the 80th minute when from point blank range she managed to scramble across her goal and get a foot to a shot that looked certain to be in.

The best chance Town created came in the 75th minute when Maisie Poole tackled the on-rushing goalkeeper, the ball fell to captain Sarah Miller but no shooting chance developed and the ball was cleared safely away by Warsash.

The game however did end on a low point, when in the 89th minute the game was stopped when a serious leg injury was sustained by a Warsash defender, who everybody at Ilminster wishes a speedy recovery.

Ilminster’s FA Cup journey may be over, but they can now turn their attention to the league when they play host to Forest Green Rovers at the Archie Gooch Pavilion in Ilminster on Sunday, September 10, 2017, with a 2pm kick-off in the South West Women’s Football League Premier Division.

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