SSFC Women crash out of County Cup against resurgent Chester-le-Street Town

South Shields Women crashed out of the DCFA Women’s Cup with a 4-0 defeat against a resurgent Chester-le-Street Town Ladies outfit in the semi-final on Sunday.

The Cestrians made up for their 2-1 NERWFL Premier Division defeat against the Mariners three weeks ago with a convincing victory, which sent them to the final at Shields’ expense. 

It will no doubt be a bitter blow for Sophie Clough and Alex Miller’s side, who were hoping to compete for some cup silverware this year.

Two arguably fortuitous strikes by Molly Wilcock and Jenny Ashton set Chester-le-Street up nicely before the break for Katie Ellison and Laura Hockaday’s second-half finishes. 

Needless to say, Shields were second best from the off and Anna Yeakey - making her first start for the club after coming on at half-time in their most recent league game - was forced into making a punching clearance very early on.

A second corner shortly after brought danger into the box, but the resulting attempt went over.

The lasses eventually found their feet and a fleeting chance for Eve Gatens was caught comfortably by Cestrians ‘keeper, Ellie Jardine. 

Wilcock netted the visitors’ first goal of the afternoon in the 32nd minute when a deflected shot on goal just evaded Yeakey, who did her all to try and prevent that from creating harm. 

There was little she could do when the goal was left exposed for Wilcock to slot it home. 

Matters were compounded just a handful of minutes later, when in the 36th minute, Jenny Ashton doubled the visitors’ advantage. 

Jess Spark couldn’t clear a looping ball over the top and Ashton flicked it over Yeakey, before rolling it into an empty net, despite the best efforts of Spark and Josie Foster near the goalmouth.

Foster, to her credit, made a handful of brave tackles throughout, which should be applauded given the tough conditions out there.

Changes were made at half-time to try and spark some life into the game from a Shields perspective, which included swapping Yeakey for Scarlett Gowans in goal.

Only three minutes into the second-half, however, Katie Ellison slammed her shot off the crossbar and it went into the net, to make things even worse for the lasses. 

The visitors rode it out from that moment, though chances for Sophie Greener and a half-chance for Gatens when she was sent through on goal, represented a much stronger half for Shields. 

Gowans had parried a shot, which fell to Chester-le-Street to tap it across the goalmouth to find Hockaday which finished things off. 

All focus turns to the league, with 10 games remaining to make something out of this season.

South Shields Women: Yeakey (Gowans 46'), Innes, May, Legg (White 78'), Gatens, White (Greener 46'), McMahon, Spark, Abusada (Wootten 46'), Jota (Norton 63'), Foster.

Unused substitutes: Mole, England, Naylor. 

Chester-le-Street Town Ladies: Jardine, Ward (Sutton 89'), Kelly (Henderson 78'), Prudhoe (Greenwood 78'), Hunt, Third, Ellison, Hopkinson (Baxter 58'), Ashton (Heckingbottom 89'), Hockaday (Jones 89'), Wilcock (Gray 58'). 

Unused substitutes: None.

Goals: Wilcock (32’), Ashton (36’), Ellison (48’), Hockaday (85’).