Bristol Rovers vs Bristol City U21
FA Women’s National League, South West Interiors Stadium, Sunday 27th September, 14:00 KO
Bristol Rovers Women will look to secure their place in the FAWNL Cup knockout stage as they host Bristol City U21 in a derby tie.
The Gas Girls currently trail leaders Exeter City, who are two from two in the cup, after beating Keynsham Town and narrowly falling short against the Grecians, with both matches representing high-scoring affairs.
In the opening game of the competition, Bella Tweddle managed a first-half brace, before Gipsy Viveash’s penalty and Lashai McNamara’s close-range effort either side of the break capped off the 4-2 win. 11 days later, the Gas fought valiantly against tier three side Exeter, but ultimately the hosts held out for a 4-3 victory despite late goals from Jodie Exley and Annys Turner.
Since that defeat almost three weeks ago, Rovers have been in scintillating form with wins over high-fliers Wycombe Wanderers and Moneyfields. Helena Costa and Anais Trinci completed the first-half turnaround over W3, with Libby Davies then adding a late debut goal. In her first start, Davies opened the scoring against Moneys before McNama and Viveash added to their tallies, as the Gas came out victorious despite twice being pegged back by the league leaders.
Now returning to cup action, Rovers will hope they can come out on top against their local rivals to advance to the knockout rounds. All 12 league winners and the 10 best runners-up will progress, with the remaining 12 runners-up and 20 best third-placed teams moving into the FAWNL Plate knockouts instead.
Read everything you need to know about the fixture below…
Tickets…
Tickets can be purchased on the day of the fixture, at the gate, or online here.
Men's season ticket holders gain free entry to all Women's home matches.
Opposition…
In their first group game against Exeter, Chloe Giddings levelled for City in the 17th minute, but it was the Grecians who re-took the lead before the break. The start to the second half was a frantic one: four goals came in 13 minutes, as former Rovers forward Amelie Gould grabbed both for her new side.
That took the scoreline to 4-3 in favour of Exeter, with the hosts ultimately holding out for the win by that scoreline, at that point moving them into second place in the group behind the Gas.
Most recently, City kept the goals coming as they beat Keynsham 5-2. The Robins actually trailed to Mia Mugford’s 22nd minute effort, but were behind for a matter of moments as Giddings scored the first of her three goals to bring the score level.
The second half saw the bulk of the goalscoring, with Neve Comley and Gould finding the net before Giddings scored goals two and three to round off her hat-trick in the 81st minute, giving City their first win of the cup campaign and putting them into a promising position for qualification in the crunch game against Rovers.
Last Season…
On the way to their County Cup triumph, Rovers came out on top against City in the opening round of the competition, winning 3-2 from behind at home.
Having trailed earlier in the game, goals from Ruby Scahill and Kelly Highman brought the Gas back into the encounter, before Gould - now in the opposite camp - won the game for Rovers in the third minute of second-half added time.
From there, the Gas defeated Cheltenham Town 3-1, Gloucester City 4-2, and ultimately Forest Green Rovers 5-1 in the final to lift the trophy in BS32.
