Alphington Ladies 1
Exeter City Ladies 5

Exeter City Ladies earned passage to the final of the SWH Ltd Devon Women’s Senior Cup after a 5-1 win at Alphington.

Alphington, who in the previous round had beaten last season’s cup-winners Plymouth Argyle, were not to be underestimated and Exeter needed to put a good shift in to get anything from the game.

Playing on a very tricky pitch, Exeter settled very well dominating the majority of play and creating many chances, but the Alphington ‘keeper put in a very dominant display thwarting Exeter on many occasions.

Exeter scored within the first ten minutes as Tash Knapman found the back of the net after a bit of a scramble in the area.  The lead was doubled midway through the first half when the hard-working Lola Garcia Sanchez outwitted her defender to pull the ball back to Kirsty Caunter to hit a first time shot into the far corner.

However Alphington did not give in and fought back when a ball played through from midfield split the Exeter defence and there was the reliable Laura Burwood to hammer it pass Exeter keeper Carley Barber.  This gave Alphington a lifeline but Exeter went in at half-time with a slender 2-1 lead.

Exeter were again out of the blocks quicker for the second half and scored around five minutes after the restart when midfielder Vicky Barter ghosted past a couple of defenders and pulled the ball across to Garcia Sanchez, who had a simple tap in at the back post.  Momentum was now with Exeter and a fourth soon followed when a cross fell to Chloe Williams who looked certain to score from eight yards out – her effort hit the crossbar, but there was Garcia Sanchez to follow up the rebound inside the six-yard box.

Williams and Barter were substituted for Helen Kukor and Sophie Simpson and it was Simpson who scored Exeter’s final goal with ten minutes remaining when a quick corner by Knapman found Caunter, and her cross was met at the back post by Simpson for her first goal of the season.

Exeter now await the winner of the other semi-final between AFC Plympton and Torquay Utd Ladies, which takes place next weekend.  The winners of that tie are due to face the Grecians in the final on Thursday 16th April.