Posh Women recorded an emphatic victory over The Diamonds in the County Cup.
Peterborough United Women secured their place in the semi-finals of the Northants FA County Cup after another dominant performance and a 9-1 victory over AFC Rushden & Diamonds Girls at the Dog and Duck Stadium, with Keir Perkins netting her 150th goal for the club after grabbing four of the goals on Sunday afternoon.
Dan Lawlor introduced two players from the Emerging Talent Centre into the squad for the fixture against The Diamonds, with goalkeeper Megan Dellar making her debut while midfielder Ellie Curson on the bench.
However, it was a poor start from Posh as the hosts opened the scoring in just two minutes. A miss-kick from Nicole Hendrick allowed The Diamonds' attack to advance forwards, and with the keeper off her line, the Rushden number 9 slotted the ball right over her head and into the top corner.
Posh looked for an equaliser, but struggled to break down a stubborn defence. On 16 minutes they came close as Kayleigh Aylmer’s corner found Stacey McConville in the box, but her headed effort hit the crossbar.
After a period with neither side creating much threat at all, Posh’s opportunity to equalise finally came, and they took it. On 30 minutes, Aylmer’s corner found Cassie Steward in the box whose deflected shot fell at the feet of Keir Perkins and she tapped the ball home.
Lawlor’s side seemed to find their flow, and just five minutes later scored their second of the game, with another ball into the box from Aylmer found Megan Lawlor, who controlled it well and slotted it cooly past the keeper.
Posh came out hungry for more in the second half and, on 47 minutes Aylmer’s low cross into the box, once again, found Perkins at the back-post to tap it home. Just two minutes later, on 49 minutes, a miss-kick from the Rushden defender meant the ball found Aylmer in the box and she poked it home to make it four for Posh.
Posh’s dominance continued throughout the rest of the second half. On 67 minutes, Evie Driscoll-King found herself on the end of another Aylmer corner to convert from close-range, scoring her first-ever goal for the club. Less than ten minutes later on 75 minutes, Perkins got her hat-trick after being played straight through on-goal before firing into the top corner.
Just one minute after Perkins’s third, a low cross from Aylmer was converted into the net by an AFC Rushden & Diamonds defender, gifting Posh their seventh of the afternoon. Their eighth came just two minutes later when another corner into the box from Aylmer was met by the head of McConville, guiding the ball into the back of the net.
Perkins found her fourth of the afternoon, and her 150th goal in her Posh career, on 87 minutes after a delightful through ball by Jess Evans set her through on-goal where she fired into the top corner, securing another emphatic victory for Posh and their place in the semi-finals of the County Cup.
Posh XI: Dellar, Aylmer, Connor, Evans, McConville, Perkins, Steward, Lawlor, Driscoll-King, Kirk, Hendrick.
Subs: Curson, Mugridge, Lawrence (The game used rotating substations).
Written by Charlie Jiggins.
Photo Credit: The Urban Penguin.