Match Report | Port Vale FC Women 2-1 Coventry City Women & Girls

The Valiants are through to the FA Cup second-round qualifier for the first time in our history after goals from Olivia Grocott and Sian McHugh.

The Vale started the contest well with a big opportunity in the 20th minute as Grocott found herself inside the penalty area with just the keeper to beat but her shot was dragged wide of the post. 

Disaster struck six minutes later for the Vale when against the run of play Coventry’s striker was through on goal with defenders chasing her and goalkeeper Connie Shutt rushing in to smother the ball, but they kept their composure to go around Shutt and placed the ball into the empty net.

With a goal down the Valiants piled on the pressure to find a breakthrough of their own with 15 minutes of the half remaining. 

That breakthrough almost came in the 30th minute when Coventry’s goalkeeper swept the ball away as far as left-back Mollie Prime who tried her luck from distance, but the keeper managed to get back in time and push the ball behind for a corner. 

It was a corner two minutes later that caused carnage in the six-yard box as it pinballed off both sets of players and finally popped up in the air for defender Jess Smith, but she was unable to nod it home. 

The relentless pressure from Vale was rewarded in the 37th minute when Grocott drove into the box from the right-hand byline whilst she fended off the Coventry defender and fired her shot into the roof of the net as she brought her side back to level terms. 

The lead was doubled shortly afterwards by captain Sian McHugh when she found herself with time and space on the ball just outside the box on the left-hand side, where she had the awareness to lift and curl a shot over the keeper and into the back of the net. 

The second half brought drama as Vale looked for a third to put the match beyond the visitors, whilst Coventry knocked on the door for an equaliser. 

Substitute Macy Isherwood almost found that third in the 64th minute of the match when she charged through on goal with a defender at her back getting her shot off but the Coventry keeper was equal to it. 

There were big appeals from the Vale bench for a penalty after the Coventry goalkeeper pushed defender Smith off the ball during a corner, but the appeals were waived by the referee and the keeper was not penalised. 

The last ten minutes of the match saw Coventry come back in the game as they tried to find an equaliser however the Valiants held strong as their one goal advantage was enough to win the match.

Port Vale | Connie Shutt, Daisy Anderson-Wright, Jess Smith, Naomi Sale-Hancock, Rosie Tomkinson (81' Lucy Moss), Sian McHugh, Mollie Prime, Sophie Garratt, Elissa Dockerty (56' Macy Isherwood), Tara Harrison (71' Paige Taylor), Olivia Grocott

Unused Subs | Amelia Whitehouse, Cassie Davies