Sammy Conroy has been voted the latest SSE Women’s FA Cup Player of the Round after her headed double secured Sporting Club Albion a memorable 4-3 away win against Brighton & Hove Albion.
Sporting’s reward is a quarter final tie against Manchester City on Sunday 3 April.
The award is a new initiative for the SSE Women’s FA Cup, rewarding exceptional performances in each round of the competition.
Man City v Sporting Club Albion
SSE Women's FA Cup
Quarter Final
2pm, Sunday 3 April
Academy Stadium, Manchester
Sporting started the brighter of the two sides, pressing Brighton high up the pitch and their approach quickly paid dividends.
Conroy opening the scoring, rising highest in the Brighton box to powerfully head home a corner inside 10 minutes. Sporting’s excellent start continued and they added a second on 14 minutes through Summer Holmes before Abbi Cottam looked to have put the game to bed with Sporting’s third.
However, Brighton’s response was impressive and they flooded forward, pulling a goal back before half-time. After the restart it was Brighton who were in the ascendency and they netted their second goal before levelling the tie on 81 minutes.
There was one further twist in the thrilling contest and it was Sporting who found an unlikely late winner, Conroy rising again to meet a free-kick with an excellent glancing header.
And Conroy is relishing Sporting’s big quarter final tie.
She said: “It was a crazy game. I don’t think they expected us to press them so hard so early on and it took them by surprise.
“Obviously we then had to defend for most of the game so to come up with a winner late on was amazing.
“Playing Manchester City will be difficult but a great experience, we are going to go there and enjoy it.”
Sporting Club Albion our now the lowest ranked team in the competition, amongst a quarter final draw that features six FA WSL 1 sides including Arsenal, last year’s Finalists Notts County and holders Chelsea.
This year’s Final takes place at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 14 May and thanks to The FA's partnership with SSE, all children will be able to attend for free.
Adult tickets are priced £15 and group bookings and charter standard discounts are also available.
Tickets for The Final are on sale now via TheFA.com/Tickets or by calling 0844 826 2010.
