Town progressed into the second-round of the Women's FA Cup with an ugly 2-0 victory over MK Dons at The Pavilion on Sunday.
For the second time this season, former Dons youngsters Zoe Barratt and Lucy O'Brien came back to haunt their former club, with both goals coming in the first-half.
The Tractor Girls laid siege to the MK Dons goal early doors, with Barratt and O'Brien going close to opening the scoring before Summer Hughes saw her deflected shot hacked off the line with Chloe Sansom wrong-footed. However, just two minutes later, Town took the lead with a well-worked goal. Hughes drove forward through the middle of the field before slotting Barratt through on goal with a perfectly-weighted through-ball and the England U19 international duly obliged by slotting home for her 7th goal of the season.
The Dons almost drew level in the minutes that followed but after an awkward bounce deceived Sarah Quantrill, Lucy Egan was on hand to throw herself in front of Hannah Barrett's shot to prevent a huge goalscoring opportunity for the hosts. Town continued to threaten and found a sensational second in the latter stages of the half as O'Brien rifled a strike into the top corner from 25-yards, giving Sansom absolutely no chance. Seconds later, the Blues were dealt a blow as Paige Peake had to be replaced by Olivia Smith after suffering with nausea and the latter was soon thrust into the action as Amy McLean cut inside of her before forcing Quantrill into a low save. From the resulting corner, Laura Bright went agonisingly close to getting her side back into the game but her free header flew just over the bar.
The conditions at The Pavilion worsened in the second-half as the game turned into an almighty scrap with neither side able to gain a foothold in the game. Barratt went close to adding her second goal of the afternoon after being played through by Natasha Thomas but she saw her shot well saved by Sansom. Despite being behind, MK continued to battle hard and forced Quantrill into action on a number of occasions, with the pick of the bunch a tremendous tip over the bar to deny Laura Mills. With the rain beating down and the pitch becoming heavier, not much further happened in the game until substitute Maddie Biggs was perhaps unlucky not to stab home Thomas' cross in added time.
Town would see the game out to book their place in the second-round, with the drawing taking place later this afternoon.
Town: Quantrill, Hughes, Peake (Smith), Egan, Lafayette, Hubbard, Horwood (c), King, O'Brien (Brasero-Carreira), Barratt (Biggs), Thomas.
Unused: L. Jackson, Bryant, Robertson
The Tractor Girls laid siege to the MK Dons goal early doors, with Barratt and O'Brien going close to opening the scoring before Summer Hughes saw her deflected shot hacked off the line with Chloe Sansom wrong-footed. However, just two minutes later, Town took the lead with a well-worked goal. Hughes drove forward through the middle of the field before slotting Barratt through on goal with a perfectly-weighted through-ball and the England U19 international duly obliged by slotting home for her 7th goal of the season.
The Dons almost drew level in the minutes that followed but after an awkward bounce deceived Sarah Quantrill, Lucy Egan was on hand to throw herself in front of Hannah Barrett's shot to prevent a huge goalscoring opportunity for the hosts. Town continued to threaten and found a sensational second in the latter stages of the half as O'Brien rifled a strike into the top corner from 25-yards, giving Sansom absolutely no chance. Seconds later, the Blues were dealt a blow as Paige Peake had to be replaced by Olivia Smith after suffering with nausea and the latter was soon thrust into the action as Amy McLean cut inside of her before forcing Quantrill into a low save. From the resulting corner, Laura Bright went agonisingly close to getting her side back into the game but her free header flew just over the bar.
The conditions at The Pavilion worsened in the second-half as the game turned into an almighty scrap with neither side able to gain a foothold in the game. Barratt went close to adding her second goal of the afternoon after being played through by Natasha Thomas but she saw her shot well saved by Sansom. Despite being behind, MK continued to battle hard and forced Quantrill into action on a number of occasions, with the pick of the bunch a tremendous tip over the bar to deny Laura Mills. With the rain beating down and the pitch becoming heavier, not much further happened in the game until substitute Maddie Biggs was perhaps unlucky not to stab home Thomas' cross in added time.
Town would see the game out to book their place in the second-round, with the drawing taking place later this afternoon.
Town: Quantrill, Hughes, Peake (Smith), Egan, Lafayette, Hubbard, Horwood (c), King, O'Brien (Brasero-Carreira), Barratt (Biggs), Thomas.
Unused: L. Jackson, Bryant, Robertson
