Women’s Under-21s win at Millwall in Capital Cup | OneFootball

Our Women’s Under-21s booked their place in the second round of the Capital Cup with a 2-1 victory over Millwall Lionesses at The Den on Sunday afternoon.

Maia Lazaro capitalised on a strong start to put us ahead midway through the first half before Fran Hamer doubled our advantage with a lovely volley from inside the box but, despite a dominant opening 45 minutes, the hosts cut the deficit just before the break with a stunning strike into the top corner.

It was a highly contested second half against the senior opposition, who compete in tier five of the Women’s football pyramid, as both sides carved out opportunities, but our players managed to control the final stages of the game to see out the win and seal our spot in the next round of the competition.

We started positively in SE16 and caused a number of problems down the right with Cruz Fuller-Fagan and Eloise Hall at the heart of it, the former’s cross seeing the ball land to Mia Endacott but her scuffed effort was cleared off the line. Zara Bailey delivered a deep free-kick from the right and was met by Grace Breen at the back post, but she sent her header over the crossbar as we looked to capitalise on a strong showing in the opening quarter of the game.

Our persistence eventually paid off in the 22nd minute as Persis Oteng raced through on goal and, despite her effort being superbly pushed onto the crossbar by Evie Thorne Ford, Lazaro was in the right place at the right time to slot home from close range. We gained momentum from that and quickly searched for a second, Oteng once again striking the woodwork as her deflected shot crashed off the outside of the post but, from the following corner, Bailey’s delivery landed to Hamer inside the box and she struck a first-time volley into the back of the net.

The hosts managed to pull a goal back and it was a moment of quality from Esme Johnson, curling her right-footed effort from the edge of the box into the top corner, and the Lionesses nearly found an equaliser on the stroke of half time, but Ciara Walting failed to show composure after Erin Radbourne’s pass landed to the forward inside the box, firing well over the bar.

Lucy Jellett tried her luck from distance after our goal was completely open, following miscommunication between Breen and Radbourne, but the forward’s ambitious effort went wide, while Lazaro forced Wright into a low save to her right in an end-to-end encounter in the opening quarter of the second half. Substitute Jhanaie Pierre saw her curling free-kick easily gathered by the Lionesses’ goalkeeper as we searched to reinstate our two-goal advantage while the hosts continued to pose a threat on the attack, but failed to forced Radbourne into any sort of action.

Pierre was at the heart of the opportunities in the closing stages of the game, sending an effort from around 25 yards out narrowly over the bar before her cross was guided wide by Endacott inside the box, as our Under-21s held on to secure an important win ahead of another cup competition on Wednesday afternoon – Chelsea in the first round of the Professional Game Academy League Cup.

“This was another great opportunity to continue that growth”

Reflecting on the game, Hardy said: “I have an immense amount of pride for the girls, it was a new experience, certainly different, a lot of players in the squad have never experienced that kind of level of competition before, especially playing at the stadium like this. I’m pleased for them all and, for us, our day-to-day work is about development, although this is a slightly different environment, this was another great opportunity to continue that growth and add to our game, individually and collectively.”