Sheffield Utd Community 2 Exeter City Ladies 4

Grecians see off Blades in South Yorkshire

Exeter City Ladies secured a place in the next round of the FA Women’s Premier League Plate with a 4-2 win against Sheffield United Community Ladies.

Exeter travelled up to South Yorkshire the night before, in order to reduce risks of fatigue that come with a lengthy journey on the day – and that proved to be the case.

The Grecians got off to a bright start at United’s ground at Killamarsh – Helen Kukor opened the scoring when she was laid through one-on-one to put the visitors ahead.

Tash Knapman, top scorer to date in the Premier League South West division, continued her goalscoring form for Exeter before the break as she netted directly from a free-kick.

Despite leading by two at the break, manager Gareth Young saw opportunities for improvement as he encouraged the team to be quicker with the ball and to get amongst the play, as they were finding themselves losing out on the second ball.

The instructions were translated into the performance, as they scored a third and fourth soon after the break.  Lola Garcia Sanchez was the next to get her name on the scoresheet after linking up well goalscorers Knapman and Kukor before chipping the goalkeeper.

Knapman added her second and City’s fourth as she was laid in by Garcia Sanchez, rounded the goalkeeper, and slotted into the empty net.

Exeter conceded two late goals through their own mistakes, but managed to hold on for the win.

Tomorrow sees the Ladies travel away to face Cheltenham in the second round of the FA Women’s Cup, with a repeat of the fixture to follow a week later in the league.