Nathan Hallett-Young was delighted with Bristol Rovers Women's attack as the Gas Girls swept aside Gloucester City Women to reach the Gloucestershire FA County Cup final.
A dominant first-half display saw Rovers race into a four-goal lead. Chloe Snook showed her composure to finish low past the goalkeeper to give her side the advantage inside four minutes before Ameilie Gould got the second with a clever chip.
Gould is having a superb season and completed her hat-trick before the break, slotting the ball into the bottom corner to earn a brace before blasting an effort into the bottom corner five minutes before half-time for her third. Gloucester got two goals back in the second half, but Rovers held onto their lead to progress to the final.
Speaking to BRTV after the contest, Hallett-Young was pleased with the attacking performance and is looking forward to the final, where the Gas will certainly be aiming for silverware.
Nathan, a win here today and progression into the County Cup final, how do you feel about that?
“I think it’s deserved. Obviously, addressing the second half, I think it’s frustrating to concede, but it’s always going to be difficult when you play the way we’re trying to play. I think the bravery that the squad had across the point was really good, and the fact that we continued to try and play despite different bits of pressure.
“I don’t think it’s a circumstance where they’ve created much; I think it’s more the fact that we’ve gifted, and it’s just momentary lapses of concentration when you’re cruising. It’s hard to stay in the game, so that’s the next thing for us to really look at is the focus overall and potentially the ball speed when the ball is around the back three and back two. So, if we can manage that across 90 minutes, it’ll be brilliant, but it’s a learning curve.
“We switched things up a little bit today, and it’s really paid off. We were brilliant going forward, and we were creating opportunities after opportunities.
"I’m really interested to see the stats back, if I’m honest, and the opportunities created. I thought, in general, that we were in a really good position across the line, especially in the first half. So, it’s not too damaging in terms of the second and the main aim was simple, it was to get into a cup final.”
Looking ahead to Forest Green as our final opposition, how do you feel about that?
"We haven’t played them for a couple of years, so it’ll be nice to revisit that. That was a main staple when we were in step five of the FGR game, and it was always a good battle and a good game. So, it’ll be good to get there and have a go.
"For us, it’s great to just be in a cup final and have silverware as an opportunity, so we’re going to be gunning for it and will try to make sure that we walk away from that with a trophy in hand."
