Lewes 1-5 Welwyn Garden City
The FA Women's Cup sponsored by E.ON
Second Round Proper
Sunday 11 November 2007
The Dripping Pan, Lewes FC 








Welwyn Garden City had already beaten Lewes 4-0 in a South East Combination fixture this season and the Hertfordshire side achieved another four-goal victory in an eventful FA Women's Cup tie at The Dripping Pan yesterday afternoon.

The match kicked off in sunshine, 17 minutes late, and the visitors immediately put together some useful attacks. After just five minutes Laveena Betts was given space to try a shot from the right and the ball clipped a Lewes player's shoulder to beat Trish Gower at her near post for an early goal. Within a minute it was 2-0, after Naomi Lyon had dribbled round two defenders to plant a shot past Gower's right hand.

But it wasn't about to become a landslide and Lewes enjoyed a lot of possession in the next 20 minutes or so. Clare Trafford looked dangerous and enterprising at centre-forward, curling one effort wide of the right-hand post and forcing an outstanding save from Verity Crook on the line with another.

Then, on the half-hour, a controversial penalty brought Lewes back into contention.

Crook felled Stafford with a crude lunge near the edge of the box on the left and the referee signalled for a free-kick. As Welwyn lined up their defensive wall, a flagging assistant drew the referee's attention and a spot-kick was subsequently awarded. 'H' Whitton's low shot was easily held by the 'keeper but the assistant, taking centre stage again, indicated that she had moved before the kick was taken.

Whitton stepped up again and thumped the ball into the top corner. 2-1 to the visitors at half time, with the sky now overcast.

A much more solid performance from Welwyn in the second half brought them three goals and a passage into the Third Round Proper, the stage when some of the Premier League clubs enter.

Betts' 30-yarder flew over Gower's head barely 30 seconds into the second period, Lyon side-footed the fourth after good work by Faye Rees and Betts completed her hat-trick in stoppage time with a left-foot rocket after a corner had only been half-cleared.

The visitors' manager was red-carded and sent into the stand a few minutes before his left-back was badly injured after jumping for a header and landing awkwardly. She was quickly stretchered off and taken away by ambulance.

Attendance: 50