Posh Women U23s secure spot in Reserve League Plate Final.
Peterborough United Women U23s secured their place in the FA Women’s National League Reserve League Plate Final following a 1-0 win against Queens’ Park Rangers Women Reserves on Sunday afternoon at a blustery QPR’s Training Ground, courtesy of a first half spot-kick from Tillie Sands.
Posh started the game strongly and carved the first chance of the game inside the opening two minutes. Rebecca Mears collected a loose ball on the edge of the area, her shot looked set to be sailing into the top right corner but the goalkeeper tipped her effort over the crossbar. An in-swinging corner by Ellie Curson caused havoc on the goal-line but was eventually cleared away by the hosts.
In the 17th minute, Arabella Lloyd-Edwards was set through on goal but dragged her effort wide of the post. The Posh continued to pressurise QPR but could not test the goalkeeper. On the stroke of half time, Posh were awarded a penalty as Curson advanced into the box but was fouled before she could strike at goal. Tillie SANDS stepped up and fired the ball into the bottom left corner to break the deadlock.
Posh continued to threaten the hosts in the second half. Jess Abrantes cut the ball back to Curson who fired a shot from the edge of the area but it ricocheted off the crossbar. Just before the hour mark, Megan Dellar was forced into action as a long-range effort looked to sneak into the bottom corner. Posh struck the woodwork once more as a speculative effort from Lloyd-Edwards beat the goalkeeper but fired off the woodwork before eventually being cleared by the hosts.
Curson’s free-kick hit the side post, Sands collected the rebound yards out but saw her effort deflected out for a corner. A cross from Mears fifteen minutes from time was met by Abrantes but her volley went wide of the post. Sands sent a dangerous free-kick towards the back post but Ella-Mai Bale was inches away from connecting. Posh saw the game out well with Dellar forced into action with a tame shot from distance with minutes left on the clock.
Manager, Michael Allsebrook, spoke after the game: “It was a really strong performance from the girls’ today. I think a 1-0 score probably flatters the hosts a bit. We were dominant in the game, probably had about 70-80% possession. We created 20 chances and hit the woodwork three times, so on another day it could have quite easily have been 5-0. We give credit to the girls’ for going out there and putting in the performance that they did. It shows how far we have come as in September that game would have gone a different way. Fair play to QPR, they battled throughout the game. We’ll take the 1-0, it puts us into the final and the girls’ deserve that achievement.”
“We asked the girls to relax today and that helped their game management. We started the game strongly which is a real improvement on previous matches. QPR played a low block which we haven’t seen before but it allowed us to get onto the ball more and make good decisions. It was good to see Tillie (Sands) on the scoresheet, it was a great penalty; no one was stopping that from going in. We’ll take the win today and go into a tough semi-final against the First Team next weekend with confidence and momentum.”
Posh: Dellar, King, Osker, Sands, Richards-Reeves, Podd, Curson, Mears, Abrantes, Lloyd-Edwards (sub 81min, Smith), Bale.
Unused sub: Robinson.