Fulham Women reached the FA Cup first round proper after a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Maidenhead following a 1-1 draw at Motspur Park.
Madi Parsonson fired home the winning spot-kick after an excellent save from Natalie Cowan by Fulham goalkeeper Frankie Gibbs to send the Whites into the first round to the delight of a partisan home crowd at Fulham’s training ground.
The fourth-tier outfit took the lead inside first ten minutes when Cowan burst clear of a square home defence and delicately lifted a fabulous finish after the helpless Gibbs. At the other end, Danni Hull made a miraculous save to prevent one of her own defenders from turning a dangerous corner from Madi Parsonson into her own net and then breathed a huge sigh of relief after Georgia Heasman riffled into the side netting from a promising position.
Megalie Mendes fired a free-kick over the bar and, as the hosts ramped up the pressure, terrific defending saw the Magpies manage to block efforts from Heasman and Parsonson after Becky Taylor-Makepeace’s clever cross had appeared to unlock the visiting defence. Tia Foreman drove over from distance before Katie Ackerman’s ambition effort from long range threatened to catch Gibbs out of her goal at the other end.
The Whites drew level seven minutes before the break when Heasman cleverly let another excellent cross from the impressive Taylor-Makepeace run – allowing Parsonson to power home at the back post. It was just what Fulham deserved for such a spirited response to going behind so early in the proceedings. The Whites might have gone in a goal to the good at the break but Heasman saw another effort blocked and Hull made an excellent stop to thwart a curling effort from Stella Morgan.
After the interval, the pattern of the match remained the same with Fulham very much on the offensive. Hull made a magnificent save with her feet to deny Taylor-Meakepeace as she sped through on goal before Morgan’s low drive from a flowing home move was well held by the Maidenhead goalkeeper.
The introduction of Ellie Olds and Sophie Manzi from the bench offered Fulham a different type of threat in the final third and the experienced forwards almost combined to put the home side in front but Manzi’s instinctive finish flew fractionally wide of goal. Hull did well to keep out a Betty Barron-Clark effort and then somehow denied Olds at the death as the Fulham striker saw her close-range finish come back off the post after taking a couple of deflections.
That sent the tie to penalties. Both sides scored their first two spot-kicks before Amy Saunders shot wide and Morgan kept her cool to give Fulham the edge. Gibbs produced a superb save from Cowell and Parsonson drove in the decisive penalty to spark celebratory scenes for the white-shirted heroes.
FULHAM FC WOMEN: Gibbs; Tagliaivini, Gane, Beaver; Parsonson, Mendes, Foreman, Morgan, Barron-Clark, Taylor-Makepeace, Heasman. Subs: Webber, Patel, Jordan, Olds, Manzi.
GOAL: Parsonson (38).
