ANDOVER NEW STREET LADIES 0

WEYMOUTH LADIES 3

WEYMOUTH will face Southampton in the third qualifying round of the FA Women’s Cup after they pulled off the greatest win in their history.

Andover, who take on the likes of Southampton, Reading, Aldershot and Oxford in the Southern Region League, reached the fifth round proper of the competition last season.

Not many pundits would have given the visitors any chance of causing a giant-killing at Foxcotte Park, especially as they went into the match minus their inspirational captain Rosie Sharpe, who was unavailable.

Weymouth opted to utilise stand-in skipper Jess Turk in her familiar role as a sweeper with Ella Walmsley coming into the five-player midfield to replace Sharpe.

Right from the kick-off it became apparent there was going to be a real contrast in styles between the youthful Weymouth team, who were looking to keep the ball down and get their passing game going, and the more experienced Andover side, who were more physical and preferred the more direct approach to the game.

Luckily for the football purists it was the former style that gained the upper hand as Weymouth began to create chances with the front pair of Philippa Holden and Rhiannon Cowan showing fantastic ability on the ball and extreme pace.

Walmsley, Amy Douch and Bianca Randall, in the centre, won the overcrowded midfield battle and kept the ball brilliantly before releasing killer passes.

A combination of desperate challenges, frequent narrow offside decisions and great goalkeeping by And-over’s number one kept the score-sheet blank until the 27th minute when Weymouth finally got the breakthrough their efforts deserved.

Top scorer and Chelsea player Holden got free of her marker and struck a shot which was too powerful for the home keeper.

Wing-backs Bryony Webb and Sophie Ramsbottom wreaked havoc with their trickery and several more chances were created in the lead up to the half-time break.

Playing downhill in the second period, Weymouth started strongly again and Holden and Cowan both went close to doubling the advantage.

Credit to Andover, they came back into the game and Weymouth keeper Eloise Adams had to be at her brilliant best to tip over a long-range strike which proved, thanks to great defending by Turk, Zoe Acutt and Samantha Johnson, to be Andover’s only shot on goal in 90 minutes.

Weymouth manager Tim Davis made two changes after 55 minutes, replacing Cowan and Walmsley with Emma Acott and Molly Tighe.

This proved to be a masterstroke as within a minute of coming on, Acott wriggled free in the penalty box and shot low and hard past the keeper to make it 2-0.

Acott, Randall, Douch, Webb and the impressive Ramsbottom all had great chances before, with just 10minutes left, Tighe ran on to a loose ball and scored her first goal for the club since her recent signing form the Dorset FA Centre of Excellence.

The final whistle sounded with Weymouth running out convincing victors to set up a fantastic third round tie on November 13.