City Women continued their run in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup with second round victory over Leafield Athletic at The Nest
A penalty from Hope Strauss was the difference as wild winds created difficult playing conditions for both sides.
Megan Todd, Natasha Snelling and Issy Moore returned to the starting line-up, with just three changes made from the trip to Loftus Road a week prior.
City started the game with great intensity, looking to catch the visitors out early on. In just the third minute of the game, Shannon Shaw left the crossbar shaking with a close-range effort, met with a rallying cry from the home faithful.
The Canaries continued to use the backing wind to their advantage, applying waves of pressure to their opponents, paying dividends in the 14th minute. Eloise Morran struck the post from just outside the area before Millie Daviss was bundled over in the follow-up for a City penalty. Strauss stepped up and sent the Leafield ‘keeper the wrong way to open the scoring.
Following the goal, City remained dominant. Snelling and Daviss both went close with respective efforts, with the former also being flagged offside as Norwich looked to have scored a second in the 25th minute.
The visitors’ first real chance came in the 34th minute as Quantrill got down well to her left side to make a fine save across goal. No more than two minutes later, Todd forced Colette Bell into a great save of her own with a curling effort destined for the bottom-left corner.
The skipper would also have the first chance of the second half of proceedings, her effort landing on the roof of the net with a tidy side-footed volley.
Holly Kennard and Shannon Shaw both had half-chances as City looked the likelier side to score in the second half, but both efforts went narrowly wide of the post.
The 72nd minute brought the first heart-in-mouth moment for the home fans as a high, looped effort looked destined for the back of the City net but landed just wide of the mark.
Lauren Tomlinson’s cannon-like throw-ins caused all sorts of problems during the afternoon, but it was her blistering pace that nearly brought a vital second goal. The winger ran half the length of the pitch before finding Snelling, who saw not one but two efforts bravely stopped by a robust Leafield defence.
A last-gasp glove from Sarah Quantrill for a wind-affected in-swinging corner would put a close to the proceedings, ensuring a place in the third round proper for the Canaries.
Norwich City: Quantrill; Flye, Morran, Todd, Daviss, Snelling (Densley 90+4), Moore (Bishop 88), Tomlinson (Symonds 88), Shaw (Medd-Gill), Strauss, Kennard (Cook 90+1)
Subs not used: Booty
Goals: Strauss
Leafield: Bell, Cowie, Godwin (Tague 68), Nichols (Morley 63), Heaselgrave, Hazell, Crackle, Shirley, Bryan (Jenkins 73), Fishwick, Lowe
Subs: Hemans, Beesley, Timms, Jarvis
HT: 1-0
FT: 1-0
Venue: The Nest
Attendance: 199