Ladies Through After Penalty Shoot Out

The League Cup quarter final bought together two teams fighting it out at the top of their respective South & North Division One league tables, so it was no surprise it was a close game. It turned out penalties were the only way to separate Knowle Ladies and Shifnal Town after 90 minutes.

From the whistle, Knowle looked like they meant business. They poured forward and forced an early corner from which Maz Byrne couldn’t quite direct her header properly. Great link up play between Demi Rolph and Jess Holland created the next good chance; they teed up Natalie Gibson whose effort cannoned back off the crossbar. Nadia Bacciochi was following in, but the ball wouldn’t quite come down for her and Shifnal were able to clear. The midfield was competitive but Bex Clarke and Kate Fleming had the measure of their opponents in those early stages and were able to feed dangerous balls out. Indeed, Clarke nearly created a goal for Alana White with a long diagonal pass but the wide forward was crowded out by some good recovery defending from Verity Farrell.

Knowle did go ahead midway through the first period, Holland and White worked the ball well out wide before finding Gibson infield. She spotted the run of Rolph and slid an inch perfect ball through the backline, the quality of which was matched by Rolph as she slotted home her finish past Rebecca Williams in the Shifnal goal. The away side really should have equalised soon after however, a long ball through beat Knowle’s defence but Katy Smithwaite made herself big and flew off the line to block Becca Bown’s shot. They were left to rue that miss when Knowle extended the lead to two; Gibson corner was on the money and this time Byrne made no mistake, nodding it down into the far corner past Williams’ despairing dive.

At this point, the game opened up more and the two sides traded blows. Maria Bell was causing Knowle problems in the middle, and Shifnal were struggling to stop White being Knowle’s go to attacking ball. Bown struck another effort wide for Shifnal before Rolph had her shot saved by Williams. Just before half time, a long clearance from Shifnal flicked off both Sam Smith and Byrne at centre half for Knowle and allowed Jenna Boddison through on goal; she kept a cool head to beat Smirthwaite but her shot bounced back off the inside of the post and Holland mopped up the danger for Knowle. The Robins therefore went in at the break two to the good, but it was certainly game on.

Knowle made four changes at the break and started slowly. Early on, Bown broke through Knowle’s midfield, leaving Clarke with no choice but to earn herself a booking by bring her down. The free kick came to nothing, but Shifnal still drew first blood in the second half. Knowle lost the ball in a dangerous position, Bell spotted the backline were out of position and clipped a pass to Boddison running into the box. The forward blasted a superb volley past Smirthwaite to pull the score back to 2-1. Knowle tried to hit back as quickly as possible; Rolph turned on the burners and raced past Sian Bonner out wide before cutting in and forcing a good save from Williams.

Fifteen minutes in, there was a pivotal moment. Out wide on the right side, Holland skipped round Nicola Mason but the defender pulled her back; Holland reacted and that instigated a shoving match. The referee showed Mason a yellow, but it was red for Holland and Knowle were down to ten for the last thirty minutes. This turned the game into a fight rather than a football match; tackles were flying in, free kicks were been given all over the pitch and the yellow card was never far from the referee’s pocket. Boddison was booked for taking out Fleming on the halfway line, and Bown saw yellow for barging Smirthwaite into the net after she had caught the ball. Eventually one of the free kicks proved decisive and it was Shifnal who got the reward; Holly Bullock hitting a direct shot past Smirthwaite from twenty-five yards out to level the score at two all.

The Robins had to reset themselves as the game looked to be going away from then, and to their credit, they pulled together. As the half wore on, both sides had chances; for Knowle, Rolph’s free kick was blocked well and keeper Williams whipped the ball off Jess Barlow’s toes when Clarke had seemingly sent her through. At the other end, Fleming made a superb tackle to stop Bown and then the same forward shot wide with the goal at her mercy. Shifnal were taking full advantage of having the extra player and had the lion’s share of possession; Knowle had to employ some last ditch defending to keep them at bay. Long range efforts were off target, and when the away side did penetrate the Knowle box, defenders stepped in to clear well. With six minutes remaining, it became a ten v ten game when Bown was sin-binned for arguing with the referee, and it was Knowle that finished the stronger. Rolph shot over the bar and the Robins forced two corners, with Barlow hitting a fierce volley wide from the last one.

The final whistle blew soon after and so it was straight to penalties for a place in the semi-final. Gibson and Smith were on target before Shifnal’s second taker blazed over the bar to give Knowle the advantage. Bacciochi’s attempt was saved by Williams however and Shifnal’s third kick was a confident effort, all square at two each. Barlow fired home, then Smirthwaite saved Shifnal’s fourth, palming it up onto the bar. It was down to Rolph to score to put Knowle through and she duly delivered in style! 4-2 the final penalty tally, always a strange way to end a game, but Knowle showed their mettle to see it through after an eventful match.

Knowle: Smithwaite, Smallwood (Shaw, 45), Smith, Byrne, Holland, Clarke, Gibson (Abbotts, 45), Fleming, Rolph, Bacciochi (Barlow, 45) White (Betteridge, 45)