Despite a gutsy performance, Steve Elswood’s side slip out of the Devon County Cup with a 2-0 defeat to Exeter City.
It was a re-run of last season’s Final in which the Gulls triumphed after winning the penalty shoot out to lift the trophy for the first time, and so Exeter City came to Coach Road eager to put the record straight.
The first half started well for United with a decent amount of possession and play coming down the left hand side in particular, with Ellie Bishop’s pace causing the City backline some problems. It was these problems that led to the award of a penalty for the Yellows in the 13th minute, when Bishop was fouled in the area and the referee pointed to the spot giving United a chance to get the early lead their play had deserved. However when Bishop stepped up to take the spot kick she failed to get the power and direction desired and Abbi Bond in the Exeter goal dived to her right to save the kick comfortably.
The miss though didn’t stop the United play from coming forward and minutes later it was Bishop again who got the better of her marker when a ball over the top left her with a run on goal. Bond came out to block but the ball fell back to Bishop, and with the goal at her mercy again the power was missing in her shot and the ball was cleared by the only other player back for Exeter and they again had another let off.
Another break down the left as the game approached the 25th minute mark almost brought the breakthrough, when Bishop beat her defender again and a cross into the box went across the face of the goal, with Danni Wyatt racing in but just unable to connect with the cross.
United were creating but just couldn’t find that opening and they were to rue those missed chances, as in the 28th minute City took the lead against the run of play. The ball broke in the midfield and was picked up by Pengelly in the centre, and with space in front of her she took her chance firing in from long range, and with the ball skidding off the wet surface just in front of her, Konnie Kleczkowski misjudged the shot and it squeezed under her body and into the net. Exeter created a few more chances as the half wore on but the United keeper was showing a safe pair of hands and the Yellows trailed by just the one goal at the break.
The second half was a more even contest with the Grecians having the best of the opening ten minutes, but United started to gain more possession again, though were unable to use it in the same way they had in the first half. Tired legs from lots of hard running were starting to creep in despite a number of substitutions, and City doubled their lead in the 63rd minute when they were awarded their own penalty. A ball into the box was dealt with well by Kleczkowski, but she was adjudged to have raised her leg after the save catching the Exeter player, and Zoe Watkins stepped up to despatch the resulting spot kick to give the Grecians some breathing space.
Despite trying hard to get a goal back to make it a tense finish to the game, the Yellows were unable to trouble their visitors goal, and so as the full time whistle went and despite a brave performance it was Exeter into the next round, with United’s quest to retain the trophy they had won back in April over for another year.
Manager Steve Elswood praised his side’s performance after the game while also looking forward to another cup game next week:
“It was a tough test as we expected, but i’m very proud to be fair as we have come up against a team from the league above us yet again, and we gave a good account of ourselves but just couldn’t get it over the line. I think 2-0 is a fair reflection and despite having a vast amount of chances in the first half, the missed penalty could’ve really turned the game, Exeter’s experience in the league above got them over the line in the end.”
“The changing room isn’t an unhappy place apart from the result and is proud, as we have put on a good performance against a team a league above us and not looked out of place, so there are lots of positives and very little negatives, and we go again and learn from this which should make us a bit stronger as a group to get promotion, which as we know is our main aim this season.”
“We now focus on next week with the F.A.Vitality Women’s Cup Third Qualifying Round, and the ladies will do the talking for themselves as there is a good energy in the group. Royal Wootton Bassett are in our league and are bottom, but we won’t read anything into that as they will be keen, tricky, tough and they are young, but again the gears we are going through and with the development we are showing we would be very disappointed if we didn’t make it into the First Round Proper. We have set them an aim of getting to the Second Round for the first time in our history, and ideally i’d like to reach the Third Round where the big teams come in and maybe draw a WSL team at home, and the ladies will be happy to progress as far as they can in the competition, but we are looking no further ahead then the game next week at the moment.”
TUWFC will play Royal Wootton Bassett Ladies next Sunday 23rd October in the F.A Vitality Women’s Cup Third Qualifying Round at Devon F.A Headquarters, Coach Road, Newton Abbot, TQ12 1EJ with the game kicking off at 2pm.
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