One Huddersfield Town team already through in FA Cup

By Stephen Downes

Huddersfield Town Ladies beat West Bromwich Albion Ladies 7-0 at the Stafflex Arena, Storthes Hall, to progress through to the third round of the SSE Women’s FA Cup – where they will meet Southern Division Lewes FC on Sunday, January 7.

While the tie kicked off at 1pm, it didn’t finish until 5pm because an ambulance had to be called when a West Brom player was injured just three minutes in.

The game was never going to be called off, of delay it was Sarah Danby who became the Town star as she scored a hat trick.

Kate Mallin had the first chance for Town in the seventh minute, shooting over, before Katie Nutter saw a shot well saved.

Town missed a big opportunity on 26 when they were awarded a penalty after Emily Heckler was brought down, but Mallin’s spot-kick was saved.

The first goal came eight minutes later when Heckler pounced onto a poor back pass from a West Brom defender to score.

Town grabbed their second right on the half time when Brittany Sanderson powered in a header.

Danby netted the third from the spot, after she herself had been fouled, and then, with Town dominating, Nutter smacked a shot against a post.

Town’s fourth did come, though, in the 67th minute when Mallin crossed to Carla Baxby, who crashed the ball against the bar.

While everyone thought the ball bounced down over the line for a goal, Lucy Sowerby made sure by slotting home.

Town were now on a roll and their fifth followed just two minutes later when Danby got her second, tapping the ball in from Mallin’s low cross.

Danby then completed her hat trick on 79, again capitalising on a West Brom mistake.

Town wrapped up the scoring three minutes from time with an expert finish from Heckler.

Manager Ash Vickers said: “I thought it was a positive performance, and I asked the girls to be patient, which I thought they were.

“Once we got the first goal, I knew we would go on to get more.

“It wasn’t that difficult to re-focus after the delay in the game, the ref told us that the match would go ahead, so we just needed to relax and then warm up again.

“Sarah (Danby) was really great, she deserved her goals and finished them really well too, which will give her some confidence.

“I was pleased for all the girls as I thought they played well.

“We are not really bothered who we get in the next round, a home tie would be great but we’ll play anyone.

“It’s a great competition to be involved in and we’d like to go further in it if we can.”

Danby, sponsored by Huddersfield Town Supporters Association was player of the match and added: “There was quite a bit of luck to score my hat trick, but I thought we played well, created the spaces and punished them when we had the chances.

“The FA Cup can be a difficult competition to get through, however we are a third-tier club and it’s great to progress through the rounds and test ourselves against teams higher up the pyramid.”