Report | Argyle Women 4 AFC Stoneham 2
Argyle 4
Sara 10, 77, Rose 14, McDonnell 65
AFC Stoneham 2
Lucas 83, Delaney 90
Argyle advanced into the third round of the Adobe Women's FA Cup after beating AFC Stoneham at Coach Road on Sunday.
Goals from Ellie Sara and Jemma Rose gave the Greens an early lead that they extended further through the second half, as a strike from Rosie McDonnell and another goal from Sara took the game beyond the visitors, who did rally late on and got two goals back.
Manager Ryan Perks made two changes to the side that won 13-0 at Home Park against Ilminster the previous weekend. Captain Panagiota Papaioannou made way for Rosie McDonnell and Erin O’Shea started ahead of Rebecca Dandridge, who had scored two the previous week.
Argyle started the game on top and had the majority of possession from the referee’s opening whistle. O’Shea had Argyle's first major chance of the half in the sixth minute after chasing down a loose ball in the area. The Ireland Under-17 international found the space to stab a shot goalwards but keeper Lucy Venables parried the shot onto the line and collected the danger seconds later.
Argyle broke the deadlock through Sara who, after running onto a well-placed through ball, slotted her shot into the bottom corner of the net.
Argyle continued to dictate the flow of the game following their first goal and were able to quickly extend their lead minutes later after a loose ball from a corner kick found the foot of Jemma Rose whose half-volleyed effort beat the dive of Venables, rattling the far post on its way into the back of the net.
The second half began with the Greens once again retaining most of the ball and looking to secure their lead further. In the 57th minute, Mia Endacott battled her way into the area and found the head of Rose at the far post, but she was unable to turn the ball home.
A whipped corner towards the near post that McDonnell was able to divert goalwards gave Argyle a third goal, and the fourth came in the 77th minute through Sara who leathered the ball into the back of the net after receiving it in the centre of the 18-yard box.
With substitutions made and minutes left on the clock all the Greens needed to do was see out the last ten minutes of the match, but AFC Stoneham had not given up just yet. The Purples came alive in the last ten minutes of the match and began to catch Argyle off guard through a series of attacks prompted by Argyle's mistakes.
Sanni Lucas denied Jasmine Read a clean sheet following a Stoneham corner that the Argyle defence struggled to clear, finishing the ball from close range. The visitors, spurred on by their goal, continued to take the game to Argyle as the clock ticked down and found another chance to narrow the scoreline as a squared ball across the goalmouth found the foot of Mia Delaney who tucked the ball home.
Despite securing two late goals in quick succession, Stoneham's hopes of a late comeback were over before they began as the referee blew moments after their second goal, securing Argyle's place in the third round of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup.
“We’ve got the job done at the end of the day,” said Perks after the match. “I do think we could have played a lot better than we did today and our desire and creativity should have been much higher than it was. Credit has to go to Stoneham as well, they’ve come here today, they’ve been well organised and disciplined. They sat in a low block and made things difficult for us but ultimately, we’ve got the job done.”
Argyle now advance into the third round of the Adobe Womens FA Cup, where they will meet Oxford United at home on Sunday, 10 December.
Argyle: 1 Jasmine Read, 2 Katie Dickson, 3 Rosie McDonnell, 4 Jemma Rose, 6 Lucy Hack, 7 Charlotte Whitmore (13 Grace Smith), 8 Imy Crawford, 9 Ellie Sara, 14 Tamsin Medd-Gill (15 Georgie Knott), 19 Erin O’Shea (20 Fern Orchard), 29 Mia Endacott.
Photo Credit: Lucy Arscott
