A late Ellie Olds winner rounded off a fabulous fightback as Fulham Women came back from 3-1 down to beat Royston Town 4-3 to reach the Women’s FA Cup third round for the first time in nineteen years.
Eastern Premier Division outfit Royston began brightly at Motspur Park and took the lead after an early sighter from Madi Parsonson cleared the crossbar. Fulham failed to deal with the Crows’ first corner and the final touch appeared to come off a home defender after Jordanne Sillitoe went up for a header. It could have been much worse for Steve Jaye’s side but Frankie Gibbs pulled off a stupendous save to thwart Laura Mills in a one-on-one midway through the first half.
Olds came agonisingly close to levelling for Fulham but her cross-cum-shot was brilliantly cleared off the line by the covering Tally Miles. Sillitoe then sent a sweetly struck half-volley a matter of millimetres wide of the far post as the visitors went in search of a second. Olds cracked a long-range effort against the crossbar before Tia Foreman rustled the side netting with a fierce strike.
Town delighted their raucous band of travelling fans by scoring a splendid second through the silky skills of Mills, who beat Gibbs with an assured finish after a superb solo run. But Fulham found a route back into the tie before the end of the first half as Mendes finished from close range after excellent approach play by the persistent Parsonson.
Royston restored their two-goal lead six minutes into the second half when Mills raced behind the Fulham back line again, rounded Gibbs and tucked the ball into the empty net despite being knocked to the floor. Tagliavini reduced the Whites’ arrears within six minutes from a free-kick and set up a wild final half hour – as the action swung from end-to-end.
Substitute Ella Newman cracked home her first Fulham goal to make it 3-3 with a lovely finish into the bottom left corner of the net and centre forward Olds got the decisive touch two minutes from time after a goalmouth scramble from Lily Stevens’ corner to complete an amazing comeback.
The Whites will find out who they will face in the third round during the draw hosted by the Counter Pressed podcast tomorrow morning at 11am.
FULHAM WOMEN: Gibbs; Tagliavini, Gane, Beaver; Mendes, Parsonson, Foreman, Stevens; Gandee Morgan, Heasman, Olds. Subs: Webber, Newman, Taylor, Stormer, Adamson, Taylor-Makepeace, Filer.
GOALS: Mendes (45), Tagliavini (57), Newman (75), Olds (88).
ROYSTON TOWN WOMEN: Want; Reed, Georgiou, Davies, Houghton, Miles, Slater, South, Sillitoe, Mills, Badal. Subs: Cooper, Ford, Hall, Roper, Pickard, Donley, Morley.
GOAL: Tagliavini (o.g. 9), Mills (40, 51)
