Brentford Women 3 AFC Wimbledon Women 4: Bees knocked out of Capital Cup by Tier 3 Wimbledon in seven goal thriller | OneFootball

Brentford Women fell to a narrow defeat to exit the Capital Cup at the semi-final stage as they were beaten 4-3 by AFC Wimbledon Women at Bedfont Sports Club.

The Bees put in a spirited performance against the highest level of opposition they have ever faced as they came from behind twice against Tier 3 opposition through an own goal and Renai McCrea. A late Maddie Phillips penalty gave Brentford hope but it was the south London side who eventually came out on top.

Hannah Billingham had the first chance of the game for the Wombles, poking an effort towards goal from the edge of the box but her strike floated wide.

On 12 minutes, the Tier 3 side found the lead when Phillips was caught playing out from the back and Emily Donovan had plenty of time to find the bottom corner to make it 1-0.

Carly Williams' side didn't let their heads drop and showed excellent character to get a leveller on 22 minutes. Lucy Potter's in-swinging corner was turned into her own net by Wimbledon defender Kate Jeffery.

Saskia Reeves-Priestley made a brilliant diving save to tip over the bar as Ellie Dorey let fly from 30 yards with an effort that curved in the swirling wind.

On 36 minutes, Wimbledon re-established their lead when Ashlee Hincks converted an excellent free-kick that whipped into the bottom corner from the edge of the box to make it 2-1.

Donovan had a chance in added time that Reeves-Priestley held on to well and the Bees went into the break with work to do being narrowly behind.

Wiktoria Kiszkis worked a good opportunity on the right to square the ball to Chelsie Berry three minutes after the restart but the winger miscued her strike.

It was an excellent reaction from the Bees who pulled themselves back into the game on 50 minutes. McCrea picked the ball up, cut inside and sent a curling effort with the outside of her left boot into the far corner to score a superb leveller.

The west Londoners went closest next when Alissa Down's speculative free-kick from range had to be tipped over the bar by Lauren Allen as the rain started to pour.

Former Northern Ireland international Rachel Dugdale came on to make her Brentford debut on 63 minutes having signed ahead of the game.

Five minutes later and the away side had the lead for a third time; Dorey found space at the back post after a smart cross and tapped home from close range.

Dorey then had a great chance to put the game to bed on 76 minutes when Wimbledon cut through the Bees' defence but she skewed her effort wide from Alisha Buckingham's cross.

Buckingham then added a fourth for the Wombles which looked to take the game out of reach for Williams' side, converting at the back post after an excellent low-driven cross from Billingham at left-back on 79 minutes.

But, the Bees weren't done yet. On 85 minutes they were given a lifeline when Aliyat Lambe was adjudged to have used unnecessary force to deny Potter from getting to the ball and the referee pointed to the spot.

Skipper Phillips stood up and leathered the ball into the bottom left corner to make it 4-3 and set up an interesting final few minutes.

Ultimately, Brentford couldn't find yet another equaliser and Wimbledon progressed to the Capital Cup final, but Williams can have plenty of pride in her side's character and determination.

The west Londoners are next in action on Sunday 22 March away to Sutton United Women in the London and South East Premier division (2pm kick-off GMT)

Brentford: Reeves-Priestley, McCrea, Black, Potter, Teale, Phillips, McKenzie (Louvrier 75), Down (Worsley 68), Berry (Harris-Walters 75), Kiszkis (Dugdale 63), Sangha

Subs: Thorne Ford

AFC Wimbledon: Allen, Russell, Jeffery (Lambe 83), Hincks, A. Buckingham, Cotter, Donovan, Billingham, K. Buckingham (Hotston 69), Dorey, Peachley

Subs: Sherlock, Scales, Whelan

Booked: Lambe 85

Carly Williams: "We took it to the wire"

Carly Williams was proud of her side's performance in their narrow defeat to Tier 3 side AFC Wimbledon in the Capital Cup semi-final.

"We always want to win, but actually the performance today was really good despite the result," she said.

"We battled to the end and took the fight to Wimbledon and I'm really proud of the girls. We talked about making sure that we showed our quality and we did that.

"Everyone showed up and we've been working on us and we're never going to change that. That's what got us back into the game and I thought it was fantastic the way that we pushed together.

"I was really proud of how they got stuck in to the game and stuck with it until the very last moment."