Wycombe Women’s run in the Berks and Bucks Cup brought to an end by Abingdon.
The Chairgirls suffered a home defeat to last season’s league winners Abingdon United, with a late flurry of goals seeing the National League side advance to the semi-finals of the Berks and Bucks Cup.
A tough first-half saw both sides unable to convert an opener, despite Abingdon applying pressure to the Chairgirls with heavy pressing into their final third. Wycombe goalkeeper, Chelsea Coles, remained calm and collected with her control over the visitors’ attempts on goal, as she brought down eight on-target shots in the opening 45 minutes to keep the scoreline even.
Though the half ended goalless, Wycombe did have opportunity to convert in the 25th minute following a beautiful through-ball from Katie Riddington finding the feet of Amy Leach whose strike was sent inches over the crossbar.
Wycombe’s defence put on an impressive performance in the first half, with Emma Newberry making a vital move to prevent Abingdon from taking the lead in the 30th minute. Following a strong run from the visitors allowing them to get past Coles and strike on target from the right of the box, Newberry slid in with her left leg stopping the ball on the edge of the goal line, before hitting it out of danger.
With the final 45 proving all to play for, the Chairgirls came out strong in attack, as Molly Carter’s 50th minute goal breaking the deadlock. With play leading to the goal building up from Coles in goal, it was an impressive team effort. Ashleigh Harte’s pass to Captain, Bobby Lynch, allowed her to send it down the right line to find a darting Katie Riddington, whose cross into the box met the feet of Molly Carter in the middle, tapping it in to send Wycombe 1-0 up.
Building on the momentum of the goal, Wycombe looked promising to double their lead with opportunity for Emma Kern to convert in the 62nd minute. As Giulia Livi’s run down the left of the pitch and subsequent shot was deflected off of the visitor’s keeper, it fell to the feet of Emma Kern in the middle of the box, with her shot flicking just over the cross bar.
A late flurry of goals in the 82nd and 84th minutes saw Abingdon take the lead and progress to the semi-finals, despite the impressive performance and determination showcased by the Chairgirls.
Wycombe manager Carl Simon stated that despite the defeat to the tier 4 side, he was “really proud of the girls today, they played excellently, they did everything we asked them to do […] we just couldn’t get the extra goal to kill the game off.”
Although Wycombe’s run in the Berks and Bucks Cup has come to an end, they return to league action on Sunday 26th November away to Bournemouth Sports. 2pm kick off.
Photos by Charlie Carter
