Oxford United Women 0 Charlton Women 1
Charlton’s women claimed their place in the quarter-finals of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup with a 1-0 victory over Oxford United at the MGroup Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The Addicks were made to work hard for their place in the last eight by their third-tier opponents. Having made 10 changes to the side which earned a 1-1 draw at Ipswich Town in the league on Wednesday, a flurry of second-half subs ensured that Charlton would pile on the pressure, eventually winning a penalty which would prove to be the difference.
A cagey first 45 minutes saw very little separate the sides.
The first real opportunity of the afternoon came the way of the Addicks with eight minutes on the clock when Amalie Thestrup picked the pocket of a U’s defender in the final third, before laying off to Emma Bissell in a good position, who placed her shot over the bar.
The hosts enjoyed a bright spell towards the end of the half, with Maisy Barker’s deep cross causing problems before Charlton cleared the danger, while Emma Thompson’s shot from distance was caught by Anna Pedersen with ease.
Following a goalless first half, the visitors emerged for the second period on the front foot and threatened in the opening minutes with a long throw which caused chaos in the box, but the Addicks could not get the killer touch to turn the ball over the line during some penalty box pinball.
Charlton were turning the screw and came close again on 55 minutes when Kiera Skeels headed a corner towards goal, only for a yellow shirt to be on hand to clear the goal-bound effort off the line.
The Addicks were finally given a golden opportunity to break the deadlock with 15 minutes remaining when they were awarded a penalty. Another display of penalty-box pinball resulted in the ball heading for the goal with Oxford’s Grace Palmer reraching out a hand on the line to prevent the ball from going in. The referee had no choice but to point to the spot and dismiss Palmer to reduce the home side to 10 players.
Up stepped Lucy Fitzgerald and she made no mistake, dispatching a brilliant, low spot-kick into the bottom right-hand corner, out of the reach of U’s stopper Beth Wookey, who had guessed the right way.
That penalty was enough to secure safe passage through to the next stage of the competition where Charlton will now await their opponents, with the draw set to take place on Monday.
Oxford United: Wookey, Gibson, Wiseman, Bedeau, Casley, Barrett (Sealey 82), Thompson, Palmer, Barker (Provan 82), Bussey (Richardson 63), Manders.
Subs (not used): Sieradzka, Legg, Jenkins, Trinder, Kendell, Carpenter.
Sent off: Palmer 75 (deliberate handball)
Charlton: Pedersen, Siber (Newsham 70), Pearse, Skeels, Waldie, Hutton, Ross, Lockwood (Bradley 82), McAteer (Fitzgerald 64), Thestrup (Kenney 64), Bissell (Muya 64).
Subs (not used): Whitehouse, Mason, Lobato, Flannery
Goal: Fitzgerald 76 (pen)
Att: 1,185