FA Womens Cup: Aldershot Town LFC vs AFC Wimbledon

Last updated : 08 October 2009 By Mike Wray
Adel Hinder brings her AFC Wimbledon side to Aldershot this coming Sunday afternoon for what is expected to be another exciting FA Cup tie at the EBB Stadium.

Speaking to The Shots this week, Ladies Press Officer Matt Leary said: "The girls thoroughly enjoyed the whole FA Cup experience a fortnight ago and really want it to continue.

"We hope we get the same amount of support, if not more, as last time. The amount of fans that turned up to cheer the girls on was great [over 200 supporters] and we are very grateful to them.

"They made so much noise for the whole game, it was incredible - especially when Grace [Irvine] got her goal!

"It was a little bit disappointing to lose for the first time this season against Maidenhead, but we've had a really good run since the start of the season with ten points from the opening four games, but it had to end at some point.

"The girls have already put that result behind them though, are fully focussed on this weekend's tie and will give nothing other than 110% effort in training and the match."

The Dons go into the tie in poor form and despite getting their London and South East Regional Women's Football League campaign off to a great start by winning all three of their opening fixtures, they have suffered defeat in the following four and slipped to eighth place in the table and rather more alarmingly, they have conceded a massive 16 goals [in those four games], while scoring just six.

Sandwiched between their last defeat however, was a 3-1 FA Cup victory against Horley Town, in which Lekesha James opened the scoring and club captain Louise Cooper grabbed a brace to help secure their side's place in the Second Qualifying Round draw - and a tie against The Shots.

With the Dons playing their football in the same division as the Crawley Wasps, who The Shots defeated 4-1 in their pre-season build-up, a positive result may well look on the cards especially given that the Dons lost 3-2 to the same side, but Shots striker Laura Wallman [pictured top] who scored a hat-trick in that game remained optimistic, yet cautious ahead of the tie, telling The Shots: "The whole team are really looking forward to this weekend's match.

"We had a brilliant result in the previous round [beating Southampton Saints 1-0] and it was a great performance from the whole team and we're hoping to get a similar result as we'd love to keep progressing in the FA Cup for as long as we can and we're especially enjoying playing at the EBB Stadium which is an added bonus.

"We played against the Wasps in pre-season and they're a similar standard so we will be feeling confident going into this game, but of course we won't be taking anything for granted, we will need to be on top of our game again and hopefully the crowd will be just as good as the last round and really get behind us!"

Indeed, after last weekend's 1-0 home league defeat against Maidenhead United, Shots boss Andy Liddicott was quick to add: "We don't know a lot about AFC Wimbledon, but we are expecting a tough encounter. 

"They haven't had the greatest of results lately, but they managed a good result against Horley Town Ladies who beat us last season at the same stage, so we will not be taking anything for granted.

"I still think we are not firing on all cylinders but hopefully with the occasion of playing at the EBB stadium, it will come at the weekend."

The Shots are only missing Stacey Ireland [broken arm] from their squad ahead of the match as they welcome back Hannah Grover and Laura Funnel both of whom will strengthen the side's defensive options. 

The Dons meanwhile, have a full squad to chose from and have also reported they are hoping to have signed another player in time for the tie, but as yet there has been no confirmation on the deal being completed.


Shots Ladies from: Lesley Hubbard, Gemma Twine, Hannah Grover, Laura Funnel, Holly Gayler, Tara Coles, Sian Houghton, Emma North, Nikki Moore, Nicky Holdyn, Grace Irvine, Gemma MacNeil, Laura Wallman, Caz Shepherd, Tracy Marlow and Jade Ferguson.

AFC Wimbledon from: Gemma Vardon, Charlotte Nash, Faye Ludlow, Louise Cooper, Danielle Davies, Laura Spooner, Wendy Munro, Nicola Gibson, Victoria Cundy, Lisa Couchman, Olivia Golder, Jodie Fernandes, Charley Pepperrell, Jessica Connolly, Lekesha James, Lyndsey Murphy-Sugrue.


Kick-off is at 2pm and everybody is welcome to attend. Entry to the match is £1 with Aldershot Town season ticket holders FREE.


The weekend's other fixtures:
Involving Southern Region teams
Launton vs Wycombe Wanderers
Shanklin vs Bracknell Town
Littlehampton Town Devils vs Maidenhead United
Slough vs Stoke Lane Athletic