Tier three side West Bromwich Albion women beat tier five side Stourbridge Ladies 4-0 to progress through to the Birmingham FA County cup final.
It was a blustery afternoon in Sutton as storm Franklin rolled in, but both sides were up for the game as both managers Jenny Sugerman and Andy Fisher picked full strength squads to battle it out for a place in the final.
The game started off scrappy and both sides struggled to take control. Albion had the best chance early on through Shannon Stamps but she fired over. Then it became an even contest yet again.
Shortly after the Stamps chance The Glassgirls began causing the Baggies defence a few problems. Ex Baggies striker Millie Rodgers was hacked down, resulting in a yellow card for an Albion player. Then a free-kick was put in by other ex Albion player Megan Hadley and Lil Bown hooked her effort just wide of the post.
Towards the closing stages of the first-half Albion pushed for the goal to put them ahead. In the 43rd minute it finally came. A defensive misjudgement by Stourbridge defender Jess Bate, allowed Leigh Dugmore in and she calmly poked it past Stour goalkeeper Amie Preston to give her side a hard fought lead before the break.
So, at half-time, Albion had the lead but Stourbridge were still in this game. No side had any real clear cut chances in the first half except the Albion opener, however, WBA were expectedly the better side but Stour were still battling hard.
The first ten minutes of the second half were again scrappy as the wind began circling round the pitch making it really hard for both sides to play. In the 55th minute Albion had another shot at goal from 10 yards but failed to score. The Glassgirls at this point were struggling to find some head way.
In the 61st minute The Baggies were awarded a penalty. After a good passage of play between Hannah George and Stamps, there was a coming together in the area where the referee had no choice but to point to the spot. Up stepped Dugmore, who fired the shot straight down the middle into the roof of the net giving Preston who despite guessing correctly, no chance of saving it.
Shortly after the penalty Albion began to take control of the match for the first time all afternoon and they were soon rewarded again for their efforts.
Another brilliant run down the right by winger Stamps saw her whip a ball into the Stourbridge area that just evaded Preston and left Kerry Walklett a simple chance to tuck the ball home, which she did to make it 3-0 with 20 minutes still to play.
The last ten minutes The Glassgirls gave everything to try and get a consolation goal for the travelling fans in support, they just unfortunately ran out of steam and Albion soon made it 4-0.
A short corner routine between Stamps and substitute Mariam Mahmood caught out the Stourbridge defence, and the young striker placed the ball perfectly into the bottom corner of Preston’s goal.
Overall, while West Brom controlled the game comfortably in the second half, The Glassgirls gave a strong account of themselves. They made it hard for Albion in the first-half and caused their defence numerous problems they just lacked the cutting edge that the tier three side had.
WBA Women will now face local rivals Wolves in the final of the Women’s County Cup after beating Boldmere St. Michaels 5-0.
Meanwhile Stour will now focus on winning their league and also the league cup in order to push for tier four and beyond.
Sporty AF 