United bow out of cup after second half blitz
Maidenhead United Women FC: Half-time substitute Addison scores all four goals
Billericay Town Women 4, Maidenhead United 0 Maidenhead United Women were looking to make history on Sunday but instead turned in one of their poorest displays of the season as they lost 4-0 to Billericay Town in the first round of the Vitality Women’s FA Cup.
The Magpies managed to hold their hosts until the break but failed to cope with the attacking prowess of Therese Addison, twin sister of WSL star Angela who plays for Tottenham Hotspur, who bagged all four of her side’s goals.
Maidenhead made the brighter start to the match, as they looked to book their place in the second round of the competition for the first time in their history, with Natalie Barnes the first to try her luck with a shot that flew into the side-netting.
The home side came back into it with Georgie Morton forcing Nina Merritt into a fine save and Sarah Thompson scrambling the ball clear as Billericay players looked to follow up.
At the other end Nicole
Barrett, one of Maidenhead’s brighter attacking players on the day, fired a cross-shot narrowly over Amy Mullett’s crossbar after good work by Barnes and Jade Chhokar.
Gemma Bloor cleared the danger after Zoe Rushen turned well in the box and centre half partner Kajal Malhotra blocked another goalbound strike. Ellie Jeffkins fired another shot onto the crossbar as the Magpies’ goal led a charmed life, but their resilience was broken in the opening 10 minutes of the second half when Addison scored twice with nearly identical efforts from long range.
Barnes glanced a Thompson cross wide of the goal before Barrett turned and sent another shot off target but in truth the Magpies failed to test keeper Mullett nearly enough throughout. Addison added her third and fourth inside the final 20 minutes to complete a disappointing afternoon on their return to competitive football following lockdown.
Amy Saunders said: “I think you always have to try and take some positives from each game. We do a lot of post-match analysis on our games and pick out things we can improve on and good points. I don’t know if it was a mix of the long delay and them catching us off-guard in the second half.
“They came out very quickly and it felt like it was a bit downhill after their first goal unfortunately.
“You always have to look to yourself and try and think what you can do better, or the team can do better. They were a good footballing side, and a lot of their players were composed on the ball. But I think one of the substitutions they made (Addison) changed the game in the second half. I don’t like to pick out just one thing but that did seem to be the point where the game changed.
“She came on second half and they started very quickly. They caught us a bit off-guard. We did okay in the first half, going in 0-0 in a cup tie was obviously a good thing. The aim was to frustrate them and get something later in the game, but it didn’t turn out the way we planned unfortunately.”
Maidenhead will look to bounce back on Sunday (December 20) when they face Southampton Women’s FC in the FA Women’s National League. The game is being livestreamed for free. See the Maidenhead United website for details.
“I like it when we have a game that’s livestreamed because it means friends and family can watch and stay safe,” added Saunders. “It’s also great publicity for us because it’s on social media. It’s good that we’ve got a game so quickly, it’s a chance to put things right.
“It will be nice to see Ellie (Parker, Southampton’s goalkeeper). They've always been a good side. But we must concentrate on us and work as hard as we can. No game in this league is easy.”
MAGPIES: Merritt, Thompson (Sub Mace 67’), Halfacree, Saunders, Malhotra, Bloor, Barrett, Carvill (Sub Nazif 81’), Barnes, Chhokar (Sub CartyDuhaney 70’), O’Brien (Sub Thorne 90’). Subs not used: Reid, Johnston.