Oxford United Women were knocked out of the Women’s FA Cup by a very strong Bristol City side yesterday afternoon. Despite a brave performance, United were beaten 4-0 by a Bristol team that are fighting for promotion to the Women’s Super League.
For 45 minutes, United were superb and went toe to toe with the Robins, the best chance coming from Iesha Swaby who forced a miraculous save from Fran Bentley in the Bristol goal.
Then, quick goals either side of half time, and some classy finishes in the later stages of the second half put the game beyond the U’s.
Manager Liam Gilbert was proud of his teams mentality
“There were a lot of positives we can take from it. The scoreline is what it is, as the game went on we tried to go and get a goal to get back in the game and we were really open and they caught us out. It’s our fault as a coaching staff as we wanted to go for it and get something from the game. It happens and they are a very good team and punished us when they had the opportunities.
“For the first 45 minutes some of our play out of possession was brilliant, and then it’s a bit of a dagger when they score just before half time. The girls didn’t stop working and they were a credit to themselves and it’s just one of those days. If a few shots fall differently in the first half, the game plays out differently but hats off to Bristol and good luck to them in the next round.
Now the U’s turn their focus to the FAWNL Southern Premier Division next Sunday, as they travel to Cheltenham Town Ladies. Title challengers Watford and Portsmouth both won whilst United were battling in the Cup, and so it will be important for the U’s to return to winning ways.
“There’s a few players that are understandably a bit disappointed but we don’t have too much time to be too deflated. We learnt a lot today about the group of players that we’ve got and certain things that we do as a system” added Liam Gilbert.