WHITLOCK DOUBLE DOES IT FOR DONS IN UNIQUE LEAGUE CUP CAMPAIGN

Villa Aztecs 0
Wimbledon 2 (Whitlock 2)

FA Women’s Premier League Cup final
Butlin Road, Rugby
23 April 1995

With the forthcoming 1995 World Cup finals – to be played in Sweden – in mind, the decision to make the Cup a lower divisions affair was taken by the Women’s Football Committee. 
 
Reflecting on the decision, the committee’s then chairman Peter Hough explains: “It was the first time that England had qualified for the World Cup finals, so we wanted to give the players who would be in the squad as much time as possible during the season to prepare for the event.”
 
England were to reach the World Cup quarter-finals with a squad drawn from six National League clubs together with Sweden-based Karen Farley.
 
Meanwhile the League Cup reached its conclusion with a clash of Southern and Northern Division teams, Wimbledon and Villa Aztecs, in the final played at VS Rugby’s Butlin Road ground.
 
Villa had squeezed through via a penalty shoot-out in their semi-final against Ipswich Town, while in the previous round the Dons had needed penalties to beat Bronte.
 
The final was also quite a tight contest, but two goals from striker Sarah Whitlock gave Wimbledon victory on a joyous weekend for the club.  

Player/manager Lynn Jacobs recalls: “We went up to Rugby the day before the match in a mini-bus, which was a luxury for us, and we stayed overnight in a pub. We had a few drinks in the bar to relax ourselves, so we had a good pre-match evening.

“When it came to the game I wasn’t too confident. We weren’t having a good season and we always found it tough against northern teams, so I’d say Villa were the favourites.

“We held them in the first half, although our goalkeeper (Ruth Gold) got injured and Maria King had to take over. Maria was a defender, not a keeper, so that made it even more difficult.

“But Sarah Whitlock came up trumps for us. She was a formidable goalscorer, a real sniffer in the penalty area, and after her second goal we saw out the last 20 minutes fairly comfortably.” 

Amongst the crowd and one of the few cheering on Wimbledon was supporter Jonathan Crabtree, who says:  “My most vivid memory of the day was getting to the ground believing I would be the only person supporting Wimbledon in a crowd of about 200 - which was very good for 1995. 

“But there were a dozen or so women from the Coventry City team who were there and they were supporting the Dons - or in reality, they just wanted Villa to lose.”

So Crabtree and the Coventry players were happy with a Wimbledon victory; and as for Jacobs: “I was ecstatic,” she says. “It was the club’s biggest game since we were playing as Friends of Fulham (the name-change came in 1991) and it was an absolutely brilliant day.”
 
Villa Aztecs: Taylor, Thompson, Edwards, Day, Shephard, Reynolds, Reade, Masters, Wilson, Rennie, Hurley.
 
Wimbledon: Gold, McRickus, O’Callaghan, O’Reilly, Jacobs, Gilbert, Curl, Williams, Whitlock, Hughes, Healey.
 
Referee: Mr G. Spooner (Sheffield).
Linesmen: Mr M. Fidler, Mr D. Smith

National Division clubs were not included in the 1994-95 League Cup competition (decision made at FAWPL Management Committee meeting, 26/7/1994).

First round byes: Villa Aztecs, St Helens/Garswood, Cowgate Kestrels, Brighton & Hove Albion, Ipswich Town, Solihull Borough, Nottingham Argyle, Town & County, Berkhamsted & Hemel, Brentford (no first-round score details in club histories).    

RESULTS

First round
9/10/1994
Kidderminster Harriers 2-3 Langford
Sheffield Wednesday 1-3 Bronte
Wimbledon 3-0 Horsham

Second round
26/2/1995
Bronte 2-0 St Helens Garswood
Brighton & Hove Albion 3-4 Wimbledon
Cowgate Kestrels 0-5 Villa Aztecs
Langford 2-2 Ipswich Town (AET, Ipswich win 8-7 on pens)
Nottingham Argyle 0-3 Solihull Borough 
Town & County 1-5 Maidstone Tigresses

5/3/1995
Brentford 0-5 Berkhamsted & Hemel

Quarter-finals
26/3/1995
Berkhamsted & Hemel 1-3 Oxford
Maidstone Tigresses 3-4 Villa Aztecs
Solihull Borough 0-6 Ipswich Town
Wimbledon 1-1 Bronte (AET, Wimbledon win 3-1 on pens)

Semi-finals
9/4/1995
Villa Aztecs 1-1 Ipswich Town (AET, Villa win 4-1 on pens)
Wimbledon 2-1 Oxford United

Final
23/4/1995
Villa Aztecs 0-2 Wimbledon