Flint’s rocket seals cup win for the Foxes
LEICESTER CITY WOMEN INTO SEM-FINALS AFTER BEATING PALACE
NATASHA Flint’s late rocket sent Leicester City into the FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup semifinals after a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace, writes Tom Dean of Sportsbeat.
Both sides missed a hatful of chances before the tie was eventually decided by Flint’s 85th-minute thunderbolt from an indirect freekick.
The hosts produced the first real scoring opportunity of the quarterfinal when Bianca Baptiste’s flick-on found Aoife Hurley unmarked in the six-yard box but her volley sailed over the bar.
It was one-way traffic after that for long periods as Leicester took control against their FA Women’s Championship rivals, with striker Flint trying to find her range but shooting wide from distance.
Flint had a second chance inside 20 minutes, this time from inside the penalty area, but Emma Gibbon did well to hold onto the powerful strike.
The Foxes continued to create the better chances and could have taken the lead just before the break but Gibbon once again kept Flint out before Lachante Paul blasted the rebound well over.
The visitors started the second half as they ended the first with Paul steering her effort just wide of the post.
Ashlee Hincks couldn’t convert a free-kick in a good position before Paul and Flint both missed chances at the other end.
With 15 minutes left on the clock, substitute Charlie Devlin unsuccessfully tried her luck with a volley from the edge of the box as the tie looked increasingly destined to finish in a stalemate. But with five minutes remaining, up stepped Flint to fire in her 14th goal of the season – and there won’t have been many better.
Remi Allen touched an indirect free-kick off to Flint who fired an unstoppable piledriver into the top corner and sealed the Foxes’ place in the last four.
City’s match-winner Flint said: “Conti Cup semi-finalist sounds unreal and I couldn’t be happier to have won.
“Crystal Palace are a very good team and played brilliantly but to get that goal late on was such a good feeling.
“I had a lot of chances – it felt like if I’d had 50 it still wouldn’t have gone in – luckily the last one did.
“Charlie [Devlin] is usually on our free-kicks and very good at them but when they are central like that I will always put my hand up for them and
Charlie said ‘go ahead.’ We will start thinking about the next stages of the competition after the weekend and I’m looking forward to seeing who we get.”
Palace’s Hincks said: “It’s obviously disappointing to lose but I think we did ourselves proud and were in it the whole game right up until that wonder strike.
“If you look at where we were last time we played them, we’ve come on huge amounts.
“We are still a relatively new squad and I think the performance was a good one to build from.
“We’ve had some good performances lately and we seem to be getting better and better so we are all happy. I was out for 15 months and tonight was my first start since then so on a personal note I was very happy to be back in amongst it.
“Far more importantly than that though, I am very proud of the team for matching Leicester. Game on next time we play them!”
Crystal Palace (4-5-1): Emma Gibbon, Annabel Johnson, Aoife Hurley, Ashleigh Goddard, Ffion Morgan, Andria Georgiou, Hannah Churchill, Georgia Clifford, Siobhan Wilson, Ashlee Hincks, Bianca Baptiste
Substitutes: Kate Natkiel for Hincks 70, Liz Waldie for Wilson 70, CoralJade Haines for Goddard 75
Substitutes not used: Chloe Morgan, Amy Goddard, Amber Gaylor, Leeta Rutherford
Bookings: Georgiou 60
Leicester City (4-3-3): Kirstie Levell, Esmee de Graaf, Sophie Howard, Ashleigh Plumptre, Lia Cataldo, Remi Allen, Freya Thomas, Sam Tierney, Lachante Paul, Natasha Flint, Olivia Fergusson
Substitutes: Charlie Devlin for Thomas 58, Hannah Cain for Fergusson 64
Substitutes not used: Sophie Harris, Grace Riglar, Olivia Smith, Millie Farrow, Ruesha Littlejohn, Aimee Everett
Goals:
Flint 85
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