By Jeff Burnige at St Paul’s
Millwall Lionesses continued their superb return to form under caretaker managers Alex Russell and Adam Rowland as they reached the first round proper of the Women’s FA Cup with this blistering 13-0 demolition of lower-tier Margate at St Paul’s last Sunday.
This tie was never in doubt from the moment Millwall took the lead and they will face L&SERWFL Premier Division rivals Denham United away on Sunday, November 12.
Although now in tier five, Millwall are one of two previous winners of the competition represented in the first round, the other being Doncaster Belles. Both are therefore desirable scalps for any of the teams left, particularly when drawn at home, so this is a challenging but very winnable draw.
“We were very happy with the performance,” Rowland said. “We dominated throughout and ruthlessly took most of our chances. I am also happy with the draw, and we are aiming to go further in the FA Cup.”
It took eleven minutes to open the scoring against seventh-tier Margate, before the hosts then scored six goals in nineteen minutes to sew up the tie.
Competition for places is now intense, and selection took account of performances in training, leading to starts for midfielder Shay Bennett and winger Grace Laverick. The latter sustained a worrying knee injury on 57 minutes, and it took three substitutions for the Lionesses to resume their goal-scoring, Ellen Napper, Tamyah Lorraine and Maddie Bone coming on with something to prove.
The goals came via two hat-tricks, from this season’s top-scorer Emma Whitter and Liv McGregor. Shannan Drewe scored twice and registered five assists, and Ella Bailey and substitutes Napper and Laverick scored one apiece. There were also two own goals.
The Lionesses return to league action at home to AFC Crawley this Sunday. Kick-off in Rotherhithe is at 1.30pm.
Image: @manonwheelzz