Posh Women U23s win on penalties to go into Reserves League Plate Semi-Finals.
Taya Smith’s 90th minute equaliser set up Peterborough United Women U23s into a penalty shoot-out where they ran out 4-1 winners against Hull City Reserves on Sunday afternoon at the idverde Training Ground in the FA Women’s National League Reserves League Plate, securing them another semi-final.
Chances came from the first whistle as a free-kick from Tillie Sands was poorly cleared, falling kindly to Taya Smith who volleyed from 18 yards out straight at the goalkeeper. Hull City immediately advanced up the other hand and broke the deadlock as their winger fired into the top right corner.
Ellie Curson intercepted the ball on the edge of The Tigers’ box and played the ball through to Jess Abrantes but her effort was dealt with well by the goalkeeper. Smith was tugged back as she looked to go through on goal, with the resultant free-kick fired wide of the post by Alicia Podd. A mistake from Edyn Osker at the back was resolved by Dellar who got out early to deny The Tigers’ forward from doubling the lead. Curson and Sands both saw speculative efforts saved late on in the first half.
Posh started the second half strong with Smith finding Bella Lloyd-Edwards at the far post but her effort was blocked by the defender. The Tigers’ responded well with a free-kick causing havoc in the Posh box, Dellar initially making a fine low save, before a shot ricocheted off the post and eventually cleared away.
Posh equalised on the hour mark as Abrantes advanced on the left before firing into the bottom right corner. The referee awarded Hull a penalty in the 66th minute but Dellar guessed the right and parried the ball away. Seven minutes later, the referee pointed to the spot again as substitute Nidia Neto handballed in the box. Dellar dived the right way again but this time the shot was too powerful as Hull retook the lead.
Podd fired against the woodwork from a free-kick with the rebound failing to fall kindly to Posh before being cleared. Smith latched onto Podd’s cross into the box but the goalkeeper kept the ball from going over the line. The U23s found an equaliser with seconds to spare as Lloyd-Edwards sent a low cross into the box which was directed into the back of the net by Smith.
The penalty shoot-out was full of drama like the 90 minutes as Podd, Osker and Abrantes saw their efforts fire into the back of the net whilst The Tigers’ blazed theirs over the crossbar. Hull City scored their third penalty but Sands stepped up and calmly slotted her shot into the corner sending Posh Women U23s into the semi-finals.
Manager, Michael Allsebrook, spoke after the game, “It’s fair to say we weren’t at our best today. We had to play with heart and desire. We’ve won games this year where we’ve blown the opponents away but sometimes you have to win ugly and win when you probably don’t deserve to. We told them at half time to do more and raise their standards and they came out in the second half and performed better. Fair play to Hull, they made it difficult for us. We thought with five minutes to go when Taya (Smith) saw her effort saved that was it but fair play to them, we’ve always got goals in us. Credit to Taya as she hasn’t scored as many goals as she’d have liked to this season, not helped being out the team with injury but her performance today deserved a goal.
We know Megan (Dellar) is a fantastic penalty saver. She did well with the first one but the second penalty was struck very powerfully. It takes a lot of guts to go in goal under lots of pressure. Bella (Lloyd-Edwards) has put a fantastic cross to the back post and Taya is there to put it away. It's another semi-final for us. Another chance to win a trophy, and another positive from a successful season from us. It’s the magic of a cup. It’s been great to play teams that we wouldn’t normally be up against, so we look forward to seeing whoever we get in the semis.”
Posh: Dellar, King (sub Akinyemi 78min), Osker, Sands, Richards-Reeves, Podd, Curson, Moore (sub Neto 71min), Abrantes, Smith, Lloyd-Edwards.
Unused Subs: Robinson, Mushtaq.