Best of the Club on Show, Even in Defeat

Knowle Ladies were soundly beaten by West Bromwich Albion in the FA Cup First Round, but the match marked a brilliant day for the club.  The first ever full FA Cup tie to be held at the Draintech Community Ground showed the best of Knowle FC, even if the team were outclassed by their high ranking opponents.

With the U9 Ravens team acting as mascots and chief cheerleaders for the crowd of 273, it was a noisy atmosphere to kick off the game and Knowle responded to it; in the first few minutes of the game, Neli Severin pounced on a West Brom defender to rob the ball and go clean through, but she unfortunately scuffed her shot. Natalie Gibson was next to have an opportunity, after good play by Katie Atter down the left side gave her a spare yard in the box and her shot was charged down.  The same thing then happened to Jess Barlow on the edge of the penalty area, but unfortunately for Knowle West Brom broke with purpose; the centre forward turned on halfway and played in her right winger who raced forward and beat Jess Jenkinson to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

After that tricky first five minutes, West Brom settled and began to turn the screw on Knowle.  The Robins had to defend numerous corners, with Gibson heading clear on several occasions.  Jenkinson also made a sharp stop low down to her right, and Lily Phelps cleared superbly off the line to deny West Brom a second. Knowle were able to get the forward and play themselves on occasion however; Trina Greaves and Gibson were using Sophie Noakes on the wide right as an outlet and she carried the ball well several times, but couldn't quite get a cross into the box.  West Brom did have the ball in the net again after a well worked move saw the winger knock down a cross for her teammate, but the forward has strayed well offside before tapping home.  Defensively the Robins held out well until the 30 minute mark where they conceded a poor goal; Jenkinson's scuffed clearance fell to the feet of the away forward with Knowle's line too high.  Sam Smith got a tackle in, but the ball rebounded straight through and the forward slotted past Jenkinson.

Knowle were guilty of allowing heads to drop after that, and experienced a difficult fifteen minutes before half time, conceding three times.  Firstly they were caught out of position from a long ball and allowed the striker to slalom through, then a poor touch was latched upon by a West Brom player who smashed a great finish into the top corner from the edge of the box.  The away side's fifth goal came from a set piece, with the West Brom forward heading home in the centre of the penalty area; Knowle were aggrieved at the push on Gibson but the referee deemed it not enough for a free kick. 

Five down at half time, Knowle had to dust themselves off and try reset in the second period.  With nothing to lose, they pushed forward early again and Severin's running caused West Brom difficulties.  Knowle's hard work eventually got their reward; Noakes' press forced a mistake and Greaves picked up the loose ball.  She found Severin who played a neat one two with Gibson, to go into the penalty area and the keeper slid out feet first to trip her.  Gibson buried the penalty with no problem and the crowd at least had a Knowle goal to celebrate! At the other end, Jenkinson was sharp off her line to stop a good attack, and Morgan Betteridge did fantastically well to rescue a situation where she was outnumbered on the back post. 

West Brom had the lions share of possession in the second half as Knowle began to tire and couldn't replicate the counter attacks they had managed in the first half.  Defensively they were in good shape however, and kept the Baggies away from goal in the main with important blocks and good tackling.  A sixth goal did come when Knowle lost possession on transition and the forward was able to spin in behind, and a penalty rounded things off when Jenkinson clipped a forward running past her.  The keeper made a great 1v1 save afterwards however, with Smith blocking on the line behind her when the rebound was fired goalwards.

Knowle ended the game on the attack after Carly Donnelly went sprinting forward to beat the full back, but couldn't quite combine with Greaves, and the final whistle blew to end their FA Cup journey this year.

A comprehensive loss in the end and not unexpected, but with so many Knowle players and families in the ground enjoying Sunday football, most came away with a smile  having seen what the Robins are all about.