Shootout win for our Women’s Under-21s against Lionesses | OneFootball

Our Women’s Under-21s were on the right side of a penalty shootout once again as we earned an extra point against London City Lionesses in the Professional Game Academy League (PGAL) Division Two campaign on Wednesday afternoon.

After a goalless encounter in normal time, with both sides still taking a point home, we won our second penalty shootout in the space of four days and goalkeeper Erin Radbourne, who produced the heroics in Sunday’s clash with QPR, was in inspired form once again, saving the visitors’ fourth spot-kick as we calmly converted all five penalties to win 5-4 and earn an extra point in the league.

We ended the game with 10 players in normal time after defender Lucy Barraclough was sent off for two bookable offences in the closing stages of the match, but we held on to record our first points in the PGAL since the turn of the year.

Looking to build momentum from our impressive win over QPR at the weekend, we were on the front foot in the opening stages at Hotspur Way as Persis Oteng and Kendra Brown were both denied by the visitors’ goalkeeper Emily Drinkwater early on. Radbourne had to be alert in the 10th minute, getting down low to save Esme Johnson’s shot, while Ruby Gaitley saw her low-driven effort, from around 20 yards out, tipped around the post by Drinkwater.

The visitors struck the woodwork in the 18th minute as Mia Hamilton’s half-volley from inside the box smashed against the underside of the bar before being cleared by Radbourne in what was arguably the best opportunity in the first half. Trying to break the deadlock after the break, Drinkwater pushed Mia Endacott’s low shot from the edge of the box around the post before Cruz Fuller-Fagan’s deflected effort went narrowly wide.

As we controlled large spells of the second half, the Lionesses had a golden opportunity to open the scoring in the 67th minute as Johnson raced behind our backline but she could only scoop the ball over the bar. With 20 minutes left on the clock, we were down to 10 players as Barraclough was dismissed for a second bookable offence.

However, we continued to carve out chances in the closing stages, Gaitley seeing two efforts from distance graze the top of the netting while, at the other end, Radbourne produced a superb save to tip Millie Rayner’s shot over the bar to keep things level and take us to a penalty shootout for an extra point.

And for a second game running in a penalty shootout, Radbourne’s heroics continued as she produced a key save for their fourth spot-kick before Oteng calmly converted our final penalty to win us the shootout 5-4 and take our point tally in the PGAL to seven points after six games.

Penalty shootout

Hamer ✅

McMaster ✅

Gaitley ✅

Bailey ✅

Oteng ✅

"The overall summary of the game would be one of missed opportunities"

Reflecting on the game, Nick Hardy said: “The overall summary of the game would be one of missed opportunities. I think, come to the end of the game, there were a lot of positive reflections and it’s unfortunately another game we finished with 10 players, but the girls had to take a leaf out of the book from last week to compete and cope with one less player tactically, technically and mentally.

"When we had 11 players, it felt a little bit disjointed and disconnected in our performance to sustain big moments of control and pressure, which was a mixture of us and the opponents. I thought they were organised, strong and had some dangerous players in the attacking areas, so it felt like a stalemate with two teams cancelling each other out. So, at the end, it’s a feeling of positivity and filled with development for the girls, and even more pleasing to get the bonus point in the penalty shootout."