Stevenage FCW were in unfamiliar territory as they played only their second home game of the season so far in a fairly one sided affair. The game saw Wormley Rovers arrive at The County Ground hoping to avoid a repeat of the 5-0 drubbing they received in the same competition last season and they will be pleased to have achieved exactly that, although Boro’ will wonder how on earth the scoreline stayed so low.
It was a game that saw the home side welcome back Nicole Cooper and Ciara Purdue, both of whom represented the club last season, as well as a start for Chloe Gunn that earned her a 50th cap for the team.
It did not take Boro’ long to hit their stride and in the opening five minutes, Kristal Clarke had two good half chances to open the scoring. Amy Gooderham attempted a shot from distance and Matilda Thomas-O’Keefe had an excellent opportunity that she couldn’t quite steer goalwards as she stretched for the ball.
It took eight minutes for the deadlock to be broken as Lilia Dempsey showed her wizardry down the right hand side, jinking and jiving through the defence and sending the ball square across the goal for Adel Mehmet to send into her own net.
Boro’ continued to press forward and Clarke and Thomas-O’Keefe both had a chance to control the ball in the box and send it goalward before a sizeable break in play for treatment to Aulona Xhema.
Thomas O’Keefe and Clarke again saw opportunities presented that flew wide of the near post on three separate occasions before Dempsey tried to emulate Becky Shephard in this same fixture last year, with a goal direct from a corner that Hebborn was equal to.
Clarke had the best chance of the half presented to her with a few minutes of regulation time remaining. A stray ball from the defence saw a misplaced pass straight to Clarke who had room to run. She chose to shoot and the ball landed just wide to the relief of a Wormley side who had such bright shirts on, it seemed impossible to miss them.
With the whistle ready to blow, Purdue saw an effort, that sent Celine Ray scrambling to her goal line, fly over the bar as Wormley had their brightest spell of the match towards the end of the half.
The away side began the second half in the same manner with a ball shot over the bar after five minutes. That marked the best two chances of the game for the visitors as the hosts began to exert yet more pressure.
Amy Makewell had two efforts from distance that did not test the ‘keeper as she would have liked before Anna Baker-Re gave Hebborn a fright with a superb effort that only just went over the bar.
Hebborn thwarted both Makewell and Clarke as each tried to find a way past the ‘keeper, but she stopped everything, saw them wide or used an outstanding reach to steal the ball from feet. Baker-Re saw a speculative drive deflected and then pushed wide again by Hebborn as Boro’ just could not find a way through the force field that seemed to surround the goal.
Thomas-O’Keefe saw a left footed drive fly wide and it seemed as though Boro’ were destined to invite jeopardy until Baker-Re provided her third assist of the season for Clarke’s third goal of her Boro’ career. It was a well taken finish as Baker-Re left her one-on-one with Hebborn and Clarke won the battle this time as she shot hard past the goalkeeper. It marked her second cup goal for Stevenage, with her last one coming in the 21/22 season against Garston, when an injury occurred to keep her out for the rest of that season following the 4-0 win.
Baker-Re and Clarke had efforts batted away as Izzy Ruse was introduced for her official senior debut in between them. Ruse had previously played for thirty minutes in the same game Cooper made her unofficial debut – against Harlow. However as they left the league, the appearances were voided making this an official appearance.
Then came a truly unbelievable sequence. Clarke rounded Hebborn, but sent the ball too wide. Her pull back preceded a great cross that Dempsey collected, only for her shot to cannon off the crossbar and land at the feet of Ciara Craig who sent the ball over from close range.
Thomas-O’Keefe had another effort fly wide in injury time, but Boro’ had no problem seeing out the game and advancing to the next round. Dave Perry was delighted afterwards, “Cup games are all about going through and we have so that’s the most important thing. It was a controlled game and we moved the ball well. We could have had the game wrapped up by half time, but we didn’t and we had to make sure the game was safe.”
Stevenage will move into the next round now where they will face their opponents from last season’s final – Royston Town - at The County Ground on the 19th November 2023.
Wormley XI: Hebborn, Manning, Daltrey, Mehmet, Ouarel, Purdue, Cooper, Howell, Lang, Japal, Xhema
Subs: Stern, Williams, Bishop, Kirkpatrick
Stevenage XI: Ray, Thomas-O’Keefe, Edge, Gunn, Brooks, Dempsey, Schofield, Bodily, Makewell (c), Gooderham, Clarke
Subs: Nebbitt, Baker-Re, Craig, Ruse
Goals: Mehmet (OG), Clarke
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