Northampton Town Women are through to the first round of the FA Cup after a 3-1 win away at Bedford Ladies.
The Cobblers endured a slow start as they struggled to get control of the game in the first half. Despite this, they managed to take the lead on 37 minutes. Charlie Cooper rose the highest from a Aimee Smith cross; her header struck the cross bar but she reacted quickly to give the Cobblers the lead.
But Northampton didn’t have the lead for long; Bedford found an equaliser a few minutes later after a cross from the right hand side looped over the keeper.
On the stroke of half-time the Cobblers restored their advantage. Abbie Brewin took a shot from distance and lobbed the keeper to make it 2-1 and give Northampton Town the lead going in to the break.
The second-half was tightly contested with nothing between the two sides. Debutant keeper Izzy McDonald pulled off some excellent saves to maintain the Cobblers advantage in a performance which landed her the Player of the Match award.
After some Bedford pressure, Northampton gave themselves some breathing space with a Francesca Partridge goal on 78 minutes. A lovely ball from Georgia Tear set Partridge on her way and she slotted home to make it 3-1 and send the Cobblers in to the first round proper of the Women's FA Cup.
A resilient performance from the Women and manager Josh Oldfield was delighted with the win:
“Outstanding character shown by the girls," he said. "Winning when not at our best, especially with senior players unavailable, sums up where we are as a group. We are in to the next round of the Women’s FA Cup, and we have huge momentum going into the league season next weekend!”
Next up for the Women is the start of their league campaign. They host Rise Park Ladies on Sunday.