Lichfield City looking to upset West Brom Women in FA Cup
Lichfield City get the chance to test themselves against opposition two levels above when they take on West Bromwich Albion Women in the FA Cup on Sunday.
Second round action takes place, with City from the West Midlands League Premier kicking off against Albion from the National League Northern Premier, at 1pm.
Sporting Khalsa Women take on Peterborough United Women at Noose Lane at 2pm.
There is also a 2pm kick off at AFC Telford, where Wolves Women are in action against Northampton Town Ladies.
Wolves beat Chelmsley Colts 19-0 in the Birmingham County Cup, with manager Dan McNamara using his squad depth to rotate the team in cup competitions.
Summer signing Maz Taho played her first 90 minutes for the club, scoring a hat-trick along with Anna Price and Beth Merrick who weighed in with four each.
Wolves also gave Grace Gregory, an 18-year-old midfielder and reserve player Hannah Sparkes their first senior starts.
Gregory scored a wonderful goal on her debut, while Sparkes lined up in the back three alongside Katie Johnson and Ria Elsmore, who was also on target,
McNamara said there were plenty of positives to take forward from the game, despite its one-sided nature.
He said: “I think it just gave us an opportunity to rotate. It also allowed us to give minutes to players that needed them and also use the reserves - thankfully they didn’t have a game, so it was ok for us to give debuts to some of the young girls coming through.
“It is what it is, you can’t disrespect the fixture by not playing it. I think it’s a wider conversation beyond us - as I have said before we shouldn’t be in the competition at this stage."
There were plenty of goals elsewhere in the competition, with Darlaston Town (CIC) Ladies beating Balls to Cancer Ladies FC 7-1. Drew Harris notched a hat-trick for Darlaston, Ellesse Birkett got two and Lauri Alexander and Laura Lindsay got the others.
Rachel Daly continued her good start to the season with a hat-trick as Aston Villa Ladies beat Reading 3-1 in the Barclays Women's Super League.
Lauren Wade gave Reading an early lead at Villa Park before Daly sprung into action with an equaliser on 37 minutes and a second on 47.
She then got a third on 76 minutes to lift Villa into fifth place in the table.
Birmingham City ended Bristol City’s unbeaten start to the Barclays FA Championship season with an impressive 1-0 win at Ashton Gate.
After a promising but quiet first-half for Darren Carter’s side, Jade Pennock opened the scoring on 52 minutes.
Resolute defending secured the win as City were restricted to speculative efforts for the remainder of the game. On Sunday both Villa and Birmingham are in FA Women's League Cup action. Villa are at home to Durham Women (6pm) and Birmingham away to West Ham United Women (3pm)
Halas Hawks Ladies progressed in the competition with a 4-2 win over Leamington Hibernian - Jodie Cassidy got two goals and Michelle Harvey Jones and Shronjeet Uppal th eothers
