LADIES WALKING FOOTBALLERS IN PEOPLES CUP

Saturday 23d February 2019

   

Birmingham WFC Women entered three teams in the new Women’s Walking section of the FA People’s Cup.  Birmingham Blues and Reds both received byes as there were insufficient entries at their venues but Birmingham Whites, entered at Nottingham, needed to play against Lincoln Ladies to secure their place in the Regional semi-finals next month … and they did so in style!

With only one game to play, their encounter against Lincoln was to be a 40-minute match of two 20-minute halves.  The game was played in a cage which meant few breaks in play and the use of substitutions would be crucial in keeping everyone fresh.

 Birmingham started fast with the first goal from Julie coming within the first minute, quickly followed by a hattrick from Jayne to give us a 4-0 lead within the first five minutes.  Two further goals from Julie and Dee preceded the first personnel change after about 10 minutes with Denny replacing Jayne.  Birmingham scored four further unanswered goals from Dee, Tracy (2) and Julie giving us a 10 – 0 lead prior to another substitution of Jayne for Dee with a few minutes left before half time.  Two more goals from Tracy and Jayne resulted in a 12 – 0 half time lead and a welcome few minutes rest.

 The second half saw Lincoln change their goalkeeper but not their fortunes.  A strong throw-out from Alex in our goal sent the ball up to the other end of the pitch. The Lincoln goalkeeper was unable to control the ball and it ended up in their net giving us a bizarre goal and a 13 – 0 lead. Julie then scored again before Lincoln got their first of the day with a shot beating a partially unsighted Alex in the Birmingham goal.  Another substitution saw Dee return to the pitch in place of Tracy and Birmingham added two more goals from Denny. Tracy then replaced Julie in another personnel change and she scored again with Jayne adding another two to increase our lead to 19-1 before Lincoln scored their second goal in the latter stages.  Tracy scored what was to be the last goal of the game before replacing Alex in goal and Julie returned to the pitch in place of Jayne for the last few minutes.

 Result: 20 – 2

Birmingham Whites therefore progress to the Regional Semi-final round in Peterborough where they will come up against the other midland/east entrants including Birmingham Blues!

 Goal scorers: Jayne 6, Tracy 5, Julie 4, Dee 2, Denny 2, Alex/OG 1