Coventry City Ladies 0-2 Birmingham City Ladies
Birmingham County Cup
21st January 2007
Christine Wheeler reports
Two first half goals sent Coventry City Ladies out of the Birmingham County Cup on Sunday as they went down to the Cup holders for the last six years running, Birmingham City.
Coventry started off brightly against their top flight opponents, but their defence was breached in the 33rd minute, with Dannii Bird's effort dribbling into the goal after Kerry Williamson got her finger tips to her original shot. The second came eight minutes later when Maz Gauntlett was quickest to react after a fantastic reaction save by Williamson from a Heather Scheuber strike.
The Sky Blues' best chances fell to Sinead Wade after she made some speedy runs at the visitors defence, but her final touch was letting her down and she failed to trouble the Blues goalkeeper Sue Woods.
The home side suffered an injury scare in the second half when goalie Williamson was briefly knocked out after a clash with an onrushing Birmingham player. The keeper was able to walk off the pitch and will be monitored for a few days. Her replacement, Katie George was called immediately into action when she had to produce an excellent acrobatic save to deny Dannii Bird a second just two minutes after coming on.
Coventry ‘s heads never dropped and they finished strongly with chances falling to Sarah Marshall and Mel Byrne, who hit the bar, but were unable to gain the consolation goal their efforts deserved.
Despite the loss, manager Stuart Wilson was pleased with the performance, “We played against a team two leagues above us and sixth in their league. As much as they were the better side, we still created chances and if some of those chances had been taken, who knows where it could have gone”
Coventry City: Kerry Williamson (Katie George, 77), Helen Dermody, Natalie Wilcox, Kelly Henson, Natasha Lynch, Maria Cartwright, Kelly-Ann Willis, Emma Lipman (Sarah Marshall, 87), Mel Byrne, Sinead Wade, Natalie Brace (Louise Whitehouse, 71), Subs not used: Ali Forbes, Chantelle Stanley