Weston Women beat Portishead to become Junior Cup champions

The Seagulls took on Portishead Reserves in the final of the cup on Thursday night and put on a fantastic performance to win the match 4-0 and win the competition for the very first time.

It was a nervy start from Weston, an early corner for Portishead was poked just wide of the near post before a defensive mix up allowed them a golden opportunity but the final ball was lacking and another Portishead effort went sailing over the bar.

Weston steadied themselves though, and after enjoying some possession a through ball from Tash Crew found Emily Nicholson whose initial shot was well charged down by the Portishead keeper, but Ellie Burrows was there to clean up the rebound and finished clinically, giving Weston a 1-0 lead after only five minutes.

Weston were settled now and began to play some good football meaning it wasn’t long before they doubled their lead.

Tash Crew won the ball deep inside the Portishead half which Burrows collected, drove towards goal and her curling effort was just about tipped onto the post by the keeper and behind.

The resulting corner was nudged into her own goal by a Portishead defender with Vika Khandusenko lurking over her shoulder to make it 2-0 to The Seagulls in the 15th minute.

Weston’s nerves had definitely settled, they began to dominate possession and were rewarded with an excellent third goal.

Weston were dominant for most of the game and enjoyed the majority of the possession (Image: Mark Stainer/WsMAFC)

The ball was worked from left to right via Grace Southey in goal, followed by a long ball from Sam Crew that landed perfectly for Tash Crew who in turn squared it to the unmarked Nicholson who slotted home to finish a lovely team move in the 24th minute, and send her team into the changing rooms 3-0 up at the break.

In the second half, Weston were rewarded for their patient build-up play when Scarlett Mills put through Khandusenko whose excellent first touch in the 56th minute set her up for a superb finish that made it 4-0.

Weston almost went further ahead when Burrows put Nicholson through on goal, but the Portishead keeper and defence dealt with the threat well.

Portishead then began to create chances of their own with a corner which was headed over the bar and another corner which went to the edge of the box for a shot attempt through a sea of bodies, but resulted in the ball bouncing around the box and eventually getting cleared.

Player of the match, as chosen by the Somerset FA, Karmisha Wilson was solid in defence all match, and her performance was much of the reason Weston kept their clean sheet during the last 30 minutes of the match.

With the result all but decided both teams brought on substitutions to freshen up the sets of players but Portishead were unable to find a reply to Weston’s four goals in the remainder of the game, and the final whistle blew with the score at 4-0.

With the impressive win Weston Women become Somerset Junior Cup champions for the first time ever, and also give themselves a chance to complete an impressive league and cup double this season, with the squad currently sitting on top of Northern Division of the South West Regional Women’s Football League.