Birmingham’s Hurtré piles pain on Chatham during 8-0 rout in Women’s FA Cup | OneFootball

“It is like me coming up against Usain Bolt,” is how Chatham Town’s manager, Keith Boanas, compared the difference in speed and stamina between his fourth-tier underdogs and full-time professionals Birmingham City. The minnows kept themselves in this contest for far longer than 9.58 seconds, testing the second-tier side for just under an hour, before eventually the home side’s superiority told.

Given they are paid only their travel expenses, while their opponents are chasing promotion to the top tier, that was an admirable effort from the lowest-ranked side in the Women’s FA Cup fifth round. They were powerless, though, to stop Birmingham charging into the quarter-finals with a hat-trick from Océane Hurtré.

The hosts opened the floodgates in the later stages of a game they would have had wrapped up before half-time had it not been for an inspired performance from the Chatham goalkeeper, Simone Eligon, who represents Trinidad and Tobago. Boanas said afterwards that she was “an excellent keeper and probably deserves to be playing at a higher level”.

She saved superbly from Hurtré and Lee Geum-min in the first half, before Hurtré’s cross-cum-shot opened the scoring. Eligon expertly tipped Veatriki Sarri’s strike on to the bar when the score was 2-0, before the hosts’ superiority became irresistible.

The final score demonstrated the gulf in athleticism and fitness levels in the women’s pyramid and was not far off the standard set by the second-tier leaders, Charlton, in their 10-0 victory over fourth-tier Swindon in the fourth round. This competition is still waiting for its first shock since the top women’s sides turned professional. But Chatham’s Elle Jeffkins, who scored four times in their Cup run, said: “We’re proud to get this far, regardless of the score. We gave them a test in the first half. We came here today to enjoy it, regardless of the result, and we’re just proud.”

Chatham will take away £127,000 in prize money for their run, which began in the third qualifying round at Beaconsfield and included eliminating two higher-league sides, AFC Wimbledon and Exeter, away from home. Boanas said: “They all did their best. They [Birmingham] are training every day and it was incredible to see the power and the pace. We couldn’t cope with that pace and power. I’ve said to them: ‘Hold your heads up high, no one can take away from you what you’ve done.’ It’s a special club and I’m glad we’ve been able to repay the chair to a point.”

This was their fourth away trip of their run and their first appearance in the fifth round. Their travelling supporters appeared to make up most of the crowd, outnumbering and outsinging the hosts. The club thought they could have brought several hundred more than the approximately 200 fans who did travel, if the game had not clashed with a home fixture for the men’s side. The Birmingham forward Lucy Quinn said: “We knew it was going to be difficult for us initially. When I heard their fans I was buzzing, that’s what you want to see, travelling fans, and it was a great atmosphere.”

Chatham travelled to the Midlands on Saturday morning and enjoyed lunch together as a squad in Solihull, where Boanas showed the team a motivational montage of all 17 of the goals in their five victories to reach this stage.

Birmingham’s head coach, Amy Merricks, is from Kent and began her coaching career at Gillingham, who rebranded as Chatham in 2023, so has something of a soft spot for the club. That certainly did not stop her side being ruthless in their pursuit of goals.

Hurtré completed a classy treble while Sarri, Lee and Birmingham’s record signing, Wilma Leidhammar, were all on the scoresheet, with the lively substitute Batcheba Louis adding two goals. Quinn, who provided two assists, said: “We like to create and be fluid. It took a while for us to find that quality in the final third and then we did and it was really pleasing to see that training ground work come off.”

Header image: [Photograph: Harriet Massey/The FA/Getty Images]