Dorking Wanderers 0 Brentford Women 4: Phillips' brace hands Bees winning start in the FA Cup | OneFootball

Brentford Women began their FA Cup journey in winning fashion on Sunday afternoon, defeating Dorking Wanderers 4-0 in second-round qualifying.

Maddie Phillips led the charge with a first half brace at Meadowbank Football Ground, Ilana Harris-Walters and Ashley Cheatley adding goals in the second half to book the Bees' spot in the next round.

In beautiful sunshine, Carly Williams’ side started with energy and were almost rewarded inside four minutes. Harris-Walters’ cross from the right side found Cheatley in space inside the box, the striker looking to bring the ball down but handling it in the process.

Four minutes later the Bees had their opener through Phillips. Her well-placed ball from the right side sailed towards the left side of the net and Maisie-Jane Johnson looked to secure it in goal for the hosts, but the ball fell through her fingertips and into the net.

Dorking responded positively and looked to score through Evie Forde on 13 minutes as she launched at goal from outside the box, but Saskia Reeves-Priestley was up to the task and kept it out diving to her left.

The ball was moving quickly up and down the pitch as both sides looked to settle into the game, neither team able to control possession for a sustained period.

The Wanderers came close to equalising on 24 minutes as Holly Crane broke forward on the counterattack and found herself one-on-one with Reeves-Priestley. The Brentford goalkeeper closed down the space quickly and made a timely save to keep the Bees’ advantage.

The half-hour marked ticked over and the west Londoners started to assert their dominance on the game. A brilliant ball from Reeves-Priestley to Harris-Walters down the right side freed up the winger who crossed to Cheatley inside the box. The Brentford no.16 looked to score but was interrupted by the Dorking backline.

The ensuing corner was played short to Phillips who took the space in front of her and made her way into the box. The midfielder looked to curl the ball into the top right corner but the effort was matched by Johnson diving to her left who fisted it away from danger.

With half-time approaching Maï Louvrier freed up Lucy Potter down the left side, the left-back faking her defender out to create space and push forward. Her cross found Abbi Smith who creatively made space inside the box with a neat move to her left, her shot smashing into the post.

In added time in the first half Cheatley was played through by a neatly placed Rebecca Teale ball and was taken down inside the Dorking box, the referee pointing to the spot. Phillips stepped up and calmly slotted it home.

Out of the break Williams’ side started superbly and immediately had a third goal. Harris-Walters looked to run onto a long ball as Johnson came out of her goal, the Brentford no.6 bravely winning it in the tackle before running into an open net and scoring.

On 53 minutes Phillips made a brilliant tackle, getting good purchase on the ball in the process. It raced ahead of Millie Constantine who crossed to Harris-Walters at the back post. The winger couldn’t control the ball for a shot but played it back to Smith, who put her shot over the bar.

Near the hour mark Maisie Dale broke forward for Dorking, cutting to her right side inside the box and firing at goal, but it was calmly collected by Reeves-Priestley.

On 64 minutes the Bees pieced together some lovely build-up play through the midfield, eventually finding Teale who played centrally to Smith, the no.15 immediately sending the ball down the line to Teale who broke forward. She looked to cross to Cheatley inside the Dorking box, but the Brentford striker couldn’t control it.

The hosts continued to press despite being down and were putting Williams’ side under pressure. On 72 minutes Forde looked to score as the ball came off the pack from a corner, but her long-range effort was well blocked and cleared by Brentford.

Williams’ side put the game to bed with under 10 minutes to play, Cheatley getting her reward. Running onto Phillips’ long ball into the Dorking box, Cheatley neatly tucked the ball into the bottom right corner to secure the win.

Brentford now turn their attention to Newhaven next Sunday at Gtech Community Stadium.

Tickets are available here.

Dorking Wanderers: Johnson, Roake, Filer, Johnston-Jones, Crane, Niemiec, Chilver, Forde, Spilsbury, Beaumont, Watson

Subs: Knott, Slade, Dale, Hulford-Funnel

Brentford Women: Reeves-Priestley, Phillips, Teale (Berry 71), Potter (Cochrane 62), Harris-Walters, Giddings (Worsley 71), Smith, Cheatley, Louvrier (Sangha 62), Black, Constantine (McCrea 71)

Subs not used: Gilligan, Francis-Pownall