Rotherham United

The last two weekends have seen Rotherham United Ladies compete in two semi finals. On the 24th February, the Ladies played Doncaster Rovers Belles Reserves in the County Cup and on the 3rd March, the opposition was Stoke City in the League Cup.

Rotherham United Ladies went through to the final of the County Cup after their 3-0 victory over Doncaster Rovers Belles Reserves. The ladies will face Sheffield Ladies FC in the final which is a repeat of last year’s semi final and the final from two seasons ago.

Doncaster Rovers Belles Reserves kicked off the game, but Rotherham United quickly won possession and dominated from the start. The team had already created three chances before Shaw opened the scoring for Rotherham United in just the fifth minute. Excellent interplay between her and Rabjohn moved the attackers up the field before she curled the ball right into the top corner and out of the reach of the goalkeeper. Further chances followed for Rotherham with Shaw, White, Pollock and Ross. Rotherham United doubled their lead just before half time when captain, Rutherford collected the ball from around 35 yards out and lobbed the keeper for her first goal of the season.

The second half started in a similar vein to the first with both teams playing good, quick passing football. Half way through the half, Shaw got her second goal and Rotherham’s third. Shaw collected the ball on the right wing just outside the penalty area, she dribbled the ball into the box before firing into the left top corner. The ladies could have had a fourth goal following a foul on White in the box. Stray stepped up to take the penalty but shot over. A few chances fell to Shaw, White, Ross towards the end but the game was destined to finish 3-0.

Stoke City kicked off the match and enjoyed early possession of the ball with only a breakaway chance falling to Shaw on the 15th minute, in a dominant period of pressure. Halfway through the half a foul by Rotherham United’s centre back, Spencer provided Stoke with a penalty, which was blazed over the bar. Stoke did get their goal just minutes later and quickly followed this with a second making the half time score 0-2.

Rotherham United came out in the second half, desperate to get back into the game. Pollock, Ross and Richardson all had chances to pull a goal back before Rotherham scored. Stray played the ball to Shaw, who drew in the defender before passing to Pollock to hit home for 1-2. Rotherham got the equaliser just minutes later when a long ball over the top landed to Shaw, who lifted it over the keeper to make it 2-2. The last ten minutes saw frantic end to end football as both teams tried to grab the winner, which came from Stoke in the 92nd minute.

Manager Simon Walker, says “The girls have done superb to get this far and although we are disappointed to go out of the League Cup at the semi final stage, it was an excellent fight back in the second half. We are now looking forward to the County Cup Final against Sheffield, which in the past has been a fixture that has provided plenty of goals.”