Brentford Women’s First Team’s League Cup journey ends in the Third Round after a 2-1 defeat to Sutton United Women at Bedfont Sports Club.
A late Chloe Webb goal was overlooked by Sutton’s Lily Dent who struck twice in the second half to hand the Bees their first defeat since last year.
Karleigh Osborne’s side looked to cause another upset in the League Cup on Sunday afternoon against a Sutton side who play their domestic football in the division above the Bees.
The opening 15 minutes of the game proved to be a scrappy affair with both sides looking to get a foothold in the match.
The first shot of the game didn’t come until 27 minutes in when Sutton’s Darcey Wells saw her strike from outside the box easily gathered by Emily Boycott.
Emily Boycott
The visitors began to grow into the match just after the half-hour mark and had a great opportunity to take the lead on 35 minutes.
A pinpoint pass from Wells found Lily Dent just a few yards out from the Brentford goal, the winger’s shot was saved brilliantly by an outcoming Emily Boycott who made herself big and got a firm hand on the ball.
Just a minute later Boycott was forced into making another excellent close-range save when the ball fell to Eloise Williams following a corner, but the defender’s effort was denied by the Brentford number one.
The hosts struggled to force any goal-scoring opportunities in the first half with their best chance coming through Kirsty Matthews just a minute before the break.
The forward showed good skill to cut inside from the right wing and unleash a strike from just outside the box, but her effort was comfortably saved by Zoe Mcnulty in the Sutton net.
The second half started with more of a spark than the first with both sides seeming to come out of the break in a more aggressive fashion.
Mollie Holmes & Freya Worsley
On 48 minutes it was Sutton who broke the deadlock, a good pass from Gabby Howell spilt the Brentford defence finding Dent who calmly slotted the ball past Boycott.
The Bees responded well following this and came close to finding an equaliser just moments later.
A dangerous corner kick from Nikki Saunders found Regan Graver who leapt well to meet the ball, but her header went just over the bar.
On 56 minutes Brentford had a great chance to get themselves on level terms when Chloe Logie got on the end of a long kick from Boycott.
The top scorer saw her one-on-one effort saved by Mcnulty who parried the ball into the path of Troth but the number 10 snatched at her chance slicing her shot wide of the post.
The Bees were made to pay for this missed opportunity as the away side doubled their lead on 77 minutes.
The hosts weren’t able to clear their lines after a Sutton corner kick caused a goalmouth scramble with the ball eventually falling to Dent who smashed her shot into the goal.
The Women’s First team did manage to pull a goal back on 84 minutes after Webb’s attempted cross from the left flank bounced over Mcnulty and into the back of the net.
Chloe Webb scored for the first time this season
This proved to come too late for the Bees however as the visitors defended well in the remaining minutes of the game to see out the victory.
Speaking after the game, Osborne said: “We wasn’t at our best today, first-half I thought we were poor, we weren’t up to our usual standards and the intensity was low but in the second half we showed more fight and created a lot of chances. Overall, it was disappointing because we didn’t show what we are capable of.
“They (Sutton) are a good team and they have some good players so I knew it would be a tough challenge, it’s just about dusting ourselves down now and coming again.”
Despite feeling like his team could have performed to a better standard the Head Coach was proud of the reaction he saw from his players after conceding both goals.
“I think their (first) goal was against the run of play but I liked the fact that we kept going and kept trying to create chances and we was unfortunate not to take them.
“To be fair to us we kept going and managed to get a goal ourselves and we made it a fight right until the end but our decision making probably wasn’t good enough at times which cost us.”
With his side still in a couple of cups and continuing their push for promotion Osborne remained in high spirits despite the defeat.
He continued: “The players have been fantastic, of course, I’m disappointed that we lost and didn’t perform to the best of our ability, but we need to remember we’re still a good team with fantastic players.
“We’ve got to bounce back and good teams do that, we’re focused on the league so we need to make sure we dust ourselves down and go again next weekend.”