Spirited performance for Women’s Under-21s goes unrewarded in FAWNL Plate | OneFootball

Our Women’s Under-21s put in a valiant performance against senior opposition, but it was Chesham United who booked their place in the next round of the FA Women’s National League Plate with a 3-2 victory on Sunday afternoon.

Despite finding themselves 2-0 down inside the opening 10 minutes at the Meadow, Persis Oteng grabbed her second brace in as many games to bring the scores level in the second half, however, Chesham United, who are competing in the fourth tier of the Women’s football pyramid, secured the win with Gemma Fraser sliding home her second of the game.

It was the perfect start for the hosts in the preliminary round of the competition as they were awarded a penalty on six minutes and Fraser stepped up to calmly convert before, three minutes later, Kiyana Fryer doubled their lead.

We quickly responded and cut the deficit midway through the first half as a quick counter-attack was finished by Oteng and, then three minutes after the break, we grabbed the equaliser as a corner saw the ball fall kindly to Oteng inside the box and she fired home from close range to net her fourth goal in two games.

Lucia Delves was in fine form to keep her side level, producing two fantastic saves in a six-minute spell, before her team-mate Fraser doubled her tally to reinstate Chesham United’s lead. We pushed for an equaliser in Buckinghamshire until the very end but the FAWNL South East side held on to set-up a tie against AFC Wimbledon in the next round.

Despite the final result at the Meadow, where we went head-to-head with a senior organisation, there were plenty of positives for Hardy’s side to take in their return to Professional Game Academy League action on Wednesday against Crystal Palace.

"There was a lot of positive things to take from it"

Reflecting on the performance, Nick said: “On the first reflection of the scoreline, it probably doesn’t reflect on how we played or how the players technically presented themselves. Although a difficult one for everyone to take because, I think, it’s fair to say we felt we deserved a little bit more. It’s a good example to show where the group is… there was a lot of positive things to take from it.

“We spoke after the game about using that performance as a platform to kick on in the league and, hopefully, appreciate and understand that we have the ability to technically and tactically be able to deliver our style of football for close to 90 minutes, so that’s probably the biggest takeaway from us moving forward. Once the disappointment of this result fades away, hopefully this becomes a springboard for performances in the Professional Game Academy League in the future.”