Port Vale Ladies continued their brilliant form on Sunday, beating Knowle FC 8-1 in the FA Cup Preliminary Round.
A commanding Vale side put eight past their opponents at the Dimension Sports Facility, to the delight of a home crowd that included club owners Carol and Kevin Shanahan. This is the second round in a row that the Ladies have swept aside a team from the league above.
A Knowle FC own goal (12) set the tone early in the first half, before Liberty Windsor doubled the lead on 26 minutes to put Vale firmly in control.
Charlotte Glover (42) added a third as half-time approached, and although Knowle pulled one back with the last kick of the half, the sides headed in with Vale comfortably leading 3-1.
After a slow start to the second half, Vale brought on Gina Wilkie, whose strike found the top corner from 35 yards with her first touch (60).
The prolific Kim Cartlidge made it five just five minutes later and Sarah Kerfoot added Vale’s sixth on 76 minutes.
With the game entering the last five minutes, the Ladies added further gloss to the scoreline.
Lia Perl Massibay scored her first of the season on 86 minutes before Cartlidge completed the rout on 89 minutes with her second of the game, taking her total to four for the season – the team’s top scorer so far.
Kyle Adams, Football Development Manager at the Port Vale Foundation, has been impressed with the results in the FA Cup so far.
“Looking at the ties beforehand I thought a couple of upsets could be on the cards, but I didn’t expect the scorelines to be so emphatic,” Adams told us.
“I knew how good the team is and how hard they’ve worked, but it’s particularly pleasing that they’ve gelled so quickly. We can expect more tough tests to come during the season – the next round is likely to pair us against an even stronger side – but we’ve set our stall out and I expect us to give any team a good game.”
Victory means that the Ladies enter the FA Cup First Qualifying Round draw, with ties due to be played on the 22ndSeptember.
Attention now shifts to the first game of their league campaign, with a tough tie against Telford United coming up on Sunday. Join us at the game for FREE – kick off is at 2pm at Bradeley Football Centre.