2nd November 2020
CTLFC 3
Portishead 1
Goalscorers:
Cheltenham: Criddle 29’, 81’, Grove 61’
Portishead: Lindsay 3’
Report by Bruna Reis
Cheltenham Town Ladies returned to the Vitality Women’s FA Cup in style extending their unbeaten run with a 3-1 home win over Portishead Town FC on Sunday afternoon.
A brace from midfielder, Charlotte Criddle and a goal from Jade Grove behind Tewkesbury School’s closed doors secured a place in the first round of the campaign with the club bagging a further £600 in prize.
With Manager, Tom Davies not being present consequent to serving a one-match ban, First Team Coach Morgan-James Hallett took over for the day.
Despite the early scare from the visitors who found the back of the net in the third minute through a defensive error, the Robinesses continued to fight arduously throughout the first-half. Many chances of which fell to the feet of Jade Grove but the Posset’s keeper pulled off some impressive saves to deny the number nine.
The hosts came close to the equaliser in the tenth minute when Criddle’s corner kick found Mai Butler but the header rattled off the woodwork.
Although the Bristol side were in advantage, it was Cheltenham who created the most chances before their effort was eventually paid off in the 29th minute with Grove finding Criddle on the edge of the box where she sent a shot across the keeper, ending in the bottom corner, claiming her fifth goal of the season in all competitions.
HALF TIME: CTLFC 1-1 Portishead
Momentum continued as the second-half got underway with the Gloucestershire team pushing on to find the lead.
A second did come for the Robinesses just pass the hour mark following the constant pressure and another link-up play between Criddle and Grove meant that this time, the roles were reversed and the forward got on scoresheet adding to her seventh contribution of the season as the ball bounced in front of the Portishead keeper.
Cheltenham kept pressuring on after the goal, in search of another, denying Portishead ball possession and Criddle fired a shot towards goal on 81 minutes.
A lack of concentration from the defence saw Billie Hayne’s cross find the number four unmarked. Criddle’s technical ability on protecting the ball and having her back to goal meant that her powerful shot on the turn would give the keeper no chance for a save.
Posset looked to get a goal back to put them back in contention but failed to produce many shots on target in the second-half and after four minutes of stoppage time, the Ladies could celebrate the important triumph and another unbeaten encounter in the Cup.
Cheltenham: R. Levett, S. Hallsworth, M. Butler, R. Halford, L. Ellis, C. Criddle, A. Kempski (Kayll 71), R. Scahill, S. King, B. Haynes, J. Grove
Subs not used: M. Ripley, H. Lambe, S. Morris, C. Jones
REACTION
Managerial stand-in, Morgan Hallett emphasised the importance of progressing through to the next round of the FA Cup.
“We’re delighted. It’s always good when you get a result like that, into the first round of the FA Cup properly, the prize money that comes with it and especially with everything that is going on, it’s a massive lift for the girls.
[On the slow start] “I don’t think we can place blame at the moment, we do things collectively and that’s been our biggest theme, so collectively getting our values together and one of those is accountability, so I wouldn’t like to place blame on anyone.
“It was always going to be a tough one today, they’ve had some good wins so far. We said right from the beginning that we wanted to be in control and be a team that they had to match, and after that first goal went in and we were a bit shaky, we had to take control and we did for the majority.
[On who he’d like to face in the next round] “I always want to say a bigger team so we can go and get a scalp but we’d be delighted with anyone we get, at the moment we’re just happy that we’re in that hat for the first round proper and again, we want teams to have to come here and match us, so we’re not too fussed who we get.”
For the digital match programme for this game, click here.
