Penalty heroics from Radbourne sees Women's Under-21s progress in cup | OneFootball

Penalty shootout heroics from Erin Radbourne saw our Women’s Under-21s progress to the next round of the Capital Cup after overcoming Queens Park Rangers on Sunday afternoon.

Having been held to a 1-1 draw in normal time after Persis Oteng’s 40th-minute opener was cancelled out by Annie Dzyadyk minutes into the second half, we were forced to a penalty shootout in the competition and goalkeeper Radbourne was in inspired form.

After the first five penalties were dispatched at SkyEx Community Stadium, Radbourne, who produced a number of notable saves in the first half, denied Holly Randall to give us the lead in the shootout and, although Chrissie Wiggins saved one of our spot-kicks to bring it level, our shot-stopper produced another superb save in sudden death to secure an impressive win against senior opposition.

Nick Hardy made two changes from the side that faced Leicester City in the week as captain Emily McMaster came in for Beatrice Cunnison and Radbourne replaced Sophie Jackson, and our goalkeeper was in fine form from the very start.

Grace Stanley and Dzyadyk were both denied by Radbourne in the opening stages, with our young shot-stopper producing a number of excellent saves in the first half to keep the scores level. We broke the deadlock with five minutes left on the clock in the first half as Oteng capped off an excellently counterattack to net her 14th goal of the season – her first in this competition.

However, just three minutes after the restart, Rangers found an equaliser as Renai MaCrea found Dzyadyk at the back post and she converted from close range. The hosts were on the front foot after their leveller and forced a number of good saves from Radbourne as we heled on to force the game into a penalty shootout.

And Rabourne’s heroics continued into the penalty shootout as a total of 12 penalty kicks were taken and after the first five were calmly converted, our goalkeeper produced two superb saves.

Seeing the first two spot-kicks scored for both sides, Radbourne first denied Randall to put us ahead in the shootout and, despite the hosts levelling after Jhanaie Pierre missed from the spot, Radbourne came up trumps in sudden death to save the final penalty and secure our spot in the next round of the competition.

Penalty shootout

Spurs

Mace ✅

McMaster ✅

Gaitely ✅

Oteng ✅

Pierre ❌

Endacott ✅

(Images: Ellie Schuetze)

"We showed great character and great mentality to win the game"

Reflecting on the game, Nick Hardy said: “It’s really nice to have those experiences and also have a successful outcome at the end and everyone, players and staff included, will learn so much from not only how it finished, but the environment, the state of the game, the situations that were happening. It was ultimately a pleasing outcome and a pleasing experience for everyone involved and huge credit to the girls because we managed the first half well, we rode our luck in a couple of moments, but we kept knocking on the door and scored a very good goal at an important time.

“The girls responded well after they equalised, their goalkeeper had to make some saves while Erin also produces a few good saves, so it was about learning to compete and control that momentum in the second half. Playing against senior opposition is completely different to our usual league games, so it was hugely valuable and lots were learned. Overall, it was really pleasing and we showed great character and great mentality to win the game, another huge step in our development and we look forward to the next round.”