League Cup Third Round

St Albans City Ladies 3

Offley & Stopsley 0

CITY Ladies gained ample revenge for a 2-1 defeat in the league earlier this season when the comprehensively dumped Offley & Stopsley out of the League Cup.

City took the lead after just 12 minutes through ace marksman Kate Clarke. Lucy Hancock was the architect crossing the ball in from the right for Clarke, who evaded the attentions of two defenders to create the space she needed to fire the ball underneath the despairing dive of the goalkeeper.

Both Kylie Wren and Clarke went close to extending City’s lead with shots that flashed past the post before Offley came alive.

City stopper Natalie Hilton had to be alert to divert a shot around the post and she was called into action again so after when the visitors had capitalised on a mistake by Rachel Sherlow only for Hilton to produce another fine save to deny them.

Hilton was eventually beaten, Offley lobbing the ball over the stranded ‘keeper but thankfully Megan Kiff was on hand to recover the situation and clear the ball off the line.

Early in the second half Clarke should have doubled her tally. The Offley ‘keeper made a hash of her clearance slicing the ball straight at Clarke. The City striker turned and pounced on the loose ball but with an open goal in front of her she rushed her effort and fired wide.

City did let up though and deservedly doubled their tally through Hancock. Wren was the provider delivering a corner to the far post for Hancock to power home her header.

Clarke shot wide of the target and Molly Slade saw her long range effort tipped over as City pushed for more goals.

With four minutes remaining Hilton produced another good save to thwart an Offley attack.

The final goal came from a fantastic finish from Wren. Rosie Fletcher slipped the ball to Wren 25 yards from goal and she unleashed a shot that flew into the back of the net to give City a deserved 3-0 victory.

City: Hilton, Johnson, Sherlow, Slade, Kiff, Mari, Wren, Tape, Hutton, Hancock, Clarke, Belcher, Brown, Ali, Fletcher, Kropman.