Report | Devon FA Women's Challenge Cup Final
Argyle Women suffered a 6-0 defeat to Exeter City at Coach Road on Wednesday night, in the inaugural Devon FA Challenge Cup final.
A Sarah Stacey hat-trick and goals from Ishbel Zuurmond, Beth Everson and Zoe Watkins secured victory for the Grecians in Newton Abbot.
After being awarded a penalty in the opening stages of the tie, Stacey slotted home from the spot to hand Exeter the lead. City’s positive play continued as the half went on, with Argyle having to defend continuous attacking phases from their Devon rivals.
Just after the half-hour mark, their lead was doubled. Some tidy team build-up play was finished off by Zuurmond inside the area, with a side-footed effort into the bottom corner.
Things soon became worse for Argyle as Exeter scored a third and fourth goal, within a minute, to end the first half. Everson tapped home a cross from Jess Sandland for the hosts’ third, with Stacey bagging her second of the game before the half-time whistle was blown.
Within four minutes of the restart, Stacey scored her third goal of the game, before Watkins added a sixth in the 65th minute with a tap-in at the back post after an effort ricocheted off the bar.
Exeter continued to search for more goals as the floodlights came on, but they ended the tie at Coach Road as the Challenge Cup winners.
Head Coach James Bradley said: “I’m really disappointed. [In the] first half we lacked intensity all over the pitch and were slow out of the gates. I’m disappointed because I think in previous games where the result hasn't necessarily gone our way, we've still shown a lot of bite, intensity and fight in our play. Tonight, I thought we let ourselves down in terms of those non-negotiables that we've talked about.
“We have to learn from it. It’s not like we can forget about tonight and pretend it didn't happen. It has happened and we've got to take the learnings from it and move on. The next game (v AFC Wimbledon, 13 April) is absolutely huge. It’s at Home Park in front of our fans, which I'm looking forward to after lots of away games in a row.
“We'll regroup, bring that intensity and that fight that we have done in so many previous games and make sure it's there for that game.”
Exeter City: 1 Abbi Bond, 2 Bow Jackson (capt) (4 Jaydee Seaman, 62), 5 Fearne Slocombe, 6 Jess Sandland (4 Emily Toogood, 84), 8 Beth Ireland (17 Zoe Cunningham, 76), 10 Sarah Stacey (16 Zoe Watkins, 62), 13 Maya Kendell, 15 Ishbel Zuurmond, 18 Beth Everson, 19 Mollie Taylor, 21 Sophie Gillies (23 Amber Pollock, 84).
Argyle: 1 Lily Felgate, 3 Roxy Thomas, 6 Taya Pomfret, 7 Charlotte Whitmore, 8 ImyCrawford (capt), 10 Georgia Wilson, 15 Georgie Knott (19 Erin O’Shea, 69), 16 Ella Stephens (20 Fern Orchard, 83), 17 Lulu Jarvis (9 Ellie Sara, 56), 22 Lois Edwards, 26 Caitlin Smith. Substitutes: 13 Grace Smith, 25 Jess Geach.
