Huddersfield Town Women secure place in second round of the FA Cup
Huddersfield Town Women beat Wythenshawe FC Women today at home with a 4-2 defeat, securing their place in the second round of the FA Cup
Huddersfield Town booked their place in the second round of the Women’s FA Cup with a 4-2 victory over divisional rivals Wythenshawe thanks to braces from Louise Biggins and Hannah Burgess – despite the visitors’ attempts to fight back from four goals down at the break.
The Terriers took an early lead after Rhema Lord-Mears sent the ball through to Kate Mallin on the left, who saw an opportunity to drive into open space and square for Biggins to finish off from an awkward angle.
Biggins’ fine start continued as she nodded home Burgess cross to double the lead – and Burgess made it three just after the half-hour after Molly Firth’s hard work in the corner paid off on her way to providing the goal.
Burgess struck again five minutes before half time – even if she didn’t know much about it in the end. Wythenshawe were able to get a Burgess strike off the line, only for the clearance to ricochet back off Burgess and into the net.
Wythenshawe’s chances of mounting a comeback from four goals down were slim, but they threatened to do more than just claw back some respectability with two goals in the second half.
Town regained their composure, however, stemming the flow of the Wythenshawe’s attack to see out a 4-2 win and put their name in the hat for the next round.
Manager Glen Preston was relieved to see his side ride out that storm after dominating the first half, saying: “I told them in the changing room at half time that the ‘game wasn’t over.
“If I was in the other team’s changing room, I would be saying that they had scored four in one half, who is to say we can’t do the same? You get one, nerves kick in and the game turns on its head – and that is exactly what it did.
“We gave them a daft goal out of nothing and I think it gave them a huge momentum for 15 minutes. They were throwing everything at us – but we saw the game out quite well.”
Preston and Firth both described the encounter as ‘a game of two halves’ with Firth admitting Town let Wythenshawe come back into the game for a spell after the break.
She said: “There was maybe a slight bit of complacency at the start of the second half. We let them get two goals and then we settled again.”
Town’s progress to the next round comes with a helpful boost in the form of FA prize money, which Preston believes the money will ‘benefit the team hugely both on and off the pitch’.
He explained: “Sometimes you want to reward the players for their efforts and it gives you that financial flexibility to do things like that.
“It will help support equipment needs from juniors right through to the first team and all of those little things you need to help support the club to run smoothly.”
Town will now travel to face Stockport County in the league onWednesday evening – which comes with its own particular challenges.
As Firth explained: “We don’t play many night games, so we have to adapt to that with the travel – some of us also work [during the day]. But we should be fine.”