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Clarets survive second half fightback to progress into next round of Women’s FA Cup

2021-11-29T11:59:39.823Z

FA CUP THIRD ROUND FOR WOMEN

Clarets survive second half fightback to progress into next round of Women’s FA Cup

2021-11-29T11:59:39.823Z

Clarets survive second half fightback to progress into next round of Women’s FA Cup

Three first half goals saw Burnley FC Women progress through to the Third Round of the Women’s FA Cup with a 3-2 victory away at AFC Fylde.

Millie Ravening, Katie Thomas and Lizzy Hamer were all on the scoresheet for the Clarets, who survived a second half comeback from the hosts to secure their victory.

In sub-zero temperatures at Fylde’s Kellamergh Park, the cup tie took a while to heat up but when Burnley clicked into gear in the 21st minute, they were on fire.

Moments after initially seeing a shot from range go wide, midfielder Ravening took aim oncemore from range and this time curled the ball into the bottom corner of the net to hand her side the advantage.

Forward Evie Priestley then rattled the underside of the crossbar with a flicked header from close range, though she turned provider for strike partner Katie Thomas to get the Clarets’ second goal soon after.

Priestley raced into the area and fired the ball across the six-yard box for Thomas to tap home into an empty net.

And three minutes later, midfielder Hamer made it 3-0 with an inch-perfect lob over the onrushing Fylde goalkeeper Savannah Smith. Ravening was involved again, with Hamer latching onto her through ball to get the shot away.

It could have been four before the break, with the duo of Priestley and Thomas proving a constant thorn in the side of the Coasters’ defence, though Burnley had to settle for a scoreline of 3-0 come half time.

As it had done prior to kick off, snow fell at the start of the second half though the pitch at Kellamergh Park held up well.

Hamer almost got her second of the afternoon not long after the restart, improvising quickly to test ‘keeper Smith with an effort flicked off her heel when she reacted to Courtney Willis’ initial shot at goal.

Hosts Fylde had beaten the Clarets in league action earlier in the campaign, and began to cause Burnley some issues as the hour-mark approached.

Having enjoyed a spell of possession and pressure, Jess Holbrook gave the Coasters a lifeline with her goal before Priestley rattled the woodwork again at the other end as the striker this time hit the post.

Fylde got a second of the afternoon through Amy Hughes 15 minutes from time and continued to apply pressure on the Burnley backline, but Matt Bee’s side held firm and got the victory to take them through into the next round of the competition.

Bee reflected post-match on a successful afternoon and discussed his pride in not just the result but the performance of his side too.

“Tactically, we approached the game in the way that we wanted to, we knew the principles of how we wanted to attack the tie and we looked the better side by a distance in the first half.

“For the way that the team applied themselves today, followed the game plan and how they approached the game overall, they deserve immense credit because they were fantastic.

“We needed to manage the second half a bit better, but in the end, we got over the line and got the job done. It’s a big result for us against a team who - if you looked at the league table before the game - probably came into today as favourites.

“The FA Cup is a competition that we’ve had good runs in previously, it’s what we do here and what we like to do as well so it was nice to hopefully really kickstart another run here after a good performance a few weeks ago against Durham [Cestria] too.”

Burnley: Bracewell, Dani Cooper, Wilson, Fleck, Worthington, Hamer, Ravening, Willis, Dom Cooper, Priestley, Thomas (Brown 81’)

Subs: Farrell, Greenalgh, Molinari, Dykes, Boydell

AFC Fylde: Smith, Taylor, Forster, Fuller, Holbrook (Bartley 82’), Hollingshead, Merrin, Redgrave (Donoghue 65’), Rowe (Hughes 65’), Fryer, McCoy

The draw for the Third Round of the Women's FA Cup takes place on Monday 29th November at 2pm.