Actonian Reserves travelled to the Surrey Hills to take on Dorking Wonderers, who currently sit 2nd in the Premier Division (Tier 5), in the Quarterfinal of the League Cup. Having overcome Premier Division Barking in the previous round, we were still going into this fixture as the underdogs, statistically, by some margin.

Both teams started well, strong in both attack and defence but the first major opportunity came to the Reserves when Dorking conceded a penalty. Rosie Hay stepped up and slotted it past the goalkeeper to put us ahead on the 19th minute. 0-1.
The game continued to be end-to-end with Dorking having a number of set pieces across the first half an hour of the game which the Reserves defended well. However, on the 29th minute, Dorking punished us with the second phase of a corner and managed to get their equaliser. 1-1.

The Reserves continued to put up a battle which ruffled the feathers of a few players in red, and you could sense the tension in the stadium. On the 40th minute, we conceded a penalty and the Dorking no.7 put an unbelievable amount of power and pace behind her penalty that no one was stopping it. 2-1 and this is how the score line stayed until the break.

We made two half time substitutions to ensure we started the half with fresh legs and give players the opportunity to rest after a brilliant first half performance. It took us only 3 minutes to find our equaliser when the second half began. A corner from Rosie was not cleared by Dorking and our no.11, Lauren, was the first to react and get the ball over the goal line. 2-2.

What continued to be a thrilling game for players, coaches and fans around the stadium, saw Dorking get their third goal of the afternoon on the 68th minute. 3-2. As I said, there was a lot of tension and willing to win this game from both teams. Tempers flared and a yellow card for both teams was given - one to our captain today, Jess and one to their no.7, Megan who had been in a bit of "argy bargy" with our no.19 Ella since the first whistle.

The final goal of the game went to Dorking to make the full time result 4-2.

The Reserves showed intent, strength, power and willing for the whole 90 minutes. We went to Surrey and gave Dorking a battle they were not expecting. We had 3 POTM winners today which goes to show the brilliant team performance we put in - well done to Grundy, Ella and Lauren.

Actonians LFC

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