Ascot United Women v Denham United Ladies
Women’s FA Cup Second Round Qualifying
So onto game two for the day and my third of the weekend, the 4.30pm kick off at The Racecourse, to catch the Women’s FA Cup tie between Ascot and Denham. The hosts, from the Southern Region Women’s League, had started the season well, currently sitting on top of the Premier Division albeit on goal difference with two wins out of three. Their visitors sit halfway in the London & South East Region Women’s League Division One North with two wins and two defeats in the league but had a confidence boosting 8-0 victory against Ruislip Rangers in the previous round.
I’ll be doing a shortened match report for this game after finding out that Neal Jeffs, an excellent match reporter for many years at Ascot United, was also at the game meaning I could take fewer notes and actually watch most of the game this time around, which makes a change!
You can read his extended match report by clicking here.
Before all that though I had the pleasure of spending the couple of hours in between the two matches testing more of the great food choices they have at Ascot United. Already this season I’d tried the Pick & Mix Box (£10), the Chicken Curry special box (£7) and the special box meal of the day was Lasagne for this game (£7). There is always a great choice of tasty meals available and with many cooked to order they’re guaranteed to be piping hot!
After a couple of laps of the ground (to walk off the large portion of pasta) I settled down to watch the game which started very evenly. You wouldn’t have guessed Denham play at a lower league level as for the first half hour the match was very even. They were playing a high press which stopped the hosts playing their usual fluent brand of football.
In the opening exchanges Jenny Nagle saw her shot from distance flash past the post and Ascot had an opportunity after Alix Todd timed her run perfectly only to be foiled by Zara Butt in the visitors goal, the keeper then managing to block two other efforts from close range until it fell to Liv Glover but she couldn’t get a clean contact and the ball was cleared.
In the 36th minute Leah Littlechild knocked a lovely ball over the defence for Glover to run on to and she provided an excellent finish to stroke the ball past Butt. 1-0
Two minutes later it was two, a great run into the box from Littlechild was passed across to Beth Lloyd in acres of space and she had the easy task of passing the ball into the unguarded net. 2-0
Ascot had one final chance before half time, another through ball was cleared by keeper Butt who spent a lot of the half as a sweeper, her clearance only finding Lauren Knight who attempted to lob Butt with the keeper just managing to get her fingertips on the ball and gathered.
H-T: Ascot United 2 Denham United 0
Where the first half was touch and go, the second saw the hosts take control. Wave after wave of attacks came and went and then in the 58th minute Ascot increased their advantage and it was a lovely finish. A Philippa Holden pass cut through the visitors defence and picked out the run of Littlechild. She checked slightly to see where Butt was before sending a delightful chip over the keepers head and into the net. 3-0
Zara Butt then made two more decent stops from Glover and Leah Robertson before Ascot made it four in the 83rd minute. Another ball over the top saw Butt commit herself outside the box, this time her clearance only found Lloyd who calmly lifted the ball into the empty net from 25 yards. 4-0
A run down the right flank by Danielle Kjaer was halted when Amna Butt made a sliding tackle inside the box taking the ball and the player and the official pointed to the spot. Lloyd took responsibility and sent her spot kick to Butt’s right but she had guessed correctly and saved well.
In the last minute Kjaer made another attacking run down the right and cut inside before sliding the ball past Butt to make it five for the hosts. 5-0
F-T: Ascot United 5 Denham United 0
A close first half but Ascot took control of the midfield in the second and without some fantastic goalkeeping from Zara Butt they would have won by a much wider margin. An entertaining game to watch and at least the rain kept away!
Good luck to Ascot in the next round and all the best to both sides for the rest of the season.