Hertfordshire Women’s County Cup Final 2016/17

Royston Town Ladies 0 – 4 Stevenage Ladies

A disappointing day for the Crows as they lost 4-0 against FAWPL opponents Stevenage Ladies. The Crows gifted Stevenage with their first 3 goals with errors and at that point it was game over.

Up until the goal it was a very even, competitive match. Both teams created chances but were denied by good goalkeeping and defending. Crows Keeper Emma D’Costa made some crucial one on one blocks early on.

Stevenage took the lead through a long ball which wasn’t dealt with by Jones and Cooper in the Royston defence, the attempted clearance fell straight to the Stevenage striker whose shot was blocked well by D’Costa but the rebound fell straight to the Stevenage striker who slotted the ball into the unguarded net. 0-1

For the remainder of the first half the Crows struggled to regain possession and the ball was given away too easily.

0-1 HT

The Crows were rocked straight after half time as Stevenage doubled their lead from a corner. The Stevenage player was able to head home unchallenged inside the six yard box. The Crows had it all to do at this stage. 0-2

Straight from the restart the Crows went up the other and a 25 yard strike from Tinsley thundered off the post with the Stevenage keeper motionless to stop it. The Crows were looking to build on this and the tempo and quality of the passing was much better compared to the first half.

Against the run of play Stevenage killed the game off after the ball was spilled by D’Costa allowing the Stevenage striker with another simple finish into the unguarded net. 0-3

Royston continued to play their quick passing and created chances through Smith and Leslie but it was not their day. In the last minute with the Crows pushing numbers forward in an attempt to get the deserved consolation goal, Stevenage got their fourth through a good finish from the striker. 0-4

0-4 FT

Manager Lewis Endacott commented “Stevenage deserved to win on the day. We weren’t clinical in both boxes and our mistakes were punished. We played better than the score suggests. It was a fantastic achievement for us to get to the final in the manner that we did, we will continue to learn and improve as a group. We have come a long way over the past few years and we will continue to progress.”