Sunday October 5, 2008
Premier League Cup, Shawbridge
Rovers 4-4 Portsmouth
(AET - Portsmouth won 4-3 on pens)

ROVERS Ladies suffered a shock exit from the Premier League Cup after an incident-packed second round tie, which featured four red cards, eights goals and a dramatic shoot-out decider.

After having four of their own players sent off, Rovers were seconds away from a place in the quarter-finals when Portsmouth snatched a last-gasp equaliser at the end of extra-time.

Adam Lakeland's side then suffered penalty heartache, when Faye McCoy and Karen Burke both saw their spot-kicks saved, as Pompey triumphed 4-3.

Earlier, Rovers had made the perfect start, opening the scoring inside 90 seconds when Emma McDougall cut the ball back for Katie Anderton to finish first time.

The home side led 2-0 at the break when Anderton rounded the keeper for her second of the game, but the visitors struck back early in the second half, with Gemma Ritchie and Lisa Langrish both finding the net.

Anderton completed her hat-trick after a poor Pompey back-pass, before a string of contentious decisions went in the south-coast side's favour.

Natalie Brewer received her second booking of the game for an innocuous challenge just outside the box, Anderton was then asked to follow her down the tunnel for questioning the referee's decision, before Ritchie fired home from the resulting free-kick.

Substitute Chantelle Parry believed she'd won it with the last kick of normal time, after her lobbed effort appeared to cross the line, but the referee waved play on.

Rovers were reduced to eight players just five minutes into extra-time, when Jenna Carroll saw red for retaliating to a bad challenge, which again went unpunished, before Burke was brought down by Portsmouth's last defender inside the box and Natalie Preston converted from the spot to hand the hosts an unlikely 4-3 lead.

And it was a lead they held until the 120th minute, when Portsmouth equalised with the final throw of the dice. After conceding a foul midway inside her own half, Preston then received an elbow to the chest by the Portsmouth player and a second booking from the referee, before Ritchie completed her hat-trick from the resulting free-kick.

Ironically, Ritchie then missed from the spot, but goalkeeper Roxy Roberts saved two Rovers penalties to send the Southern Division side through.

After the game, Lakeland said: "In my two years at the club, I have had only one player sent off. Apart from that, our disciplinary record has been exemplary - probably one of the best in the league.

"There was not a bad tackle in the game, yet we have had four players sent off and they haven't even had one booked!

"Against lower league opposition, we felt that this was a genuine opportunity for us to get to the latter stages of the competition. Our objective was to make the quarter-final draw and under normal circumstances I am sure this would have been the case.

"On a positive note, the players left on the pitch at the end of the game showed a hell of a lot of character and I'm very proud of them. I still feel that I need more out of a handful of others though, so hopefully this will be a good wake-up call."

ROVERS: Parker, Carroll, Twohig, Brewer, Harding, Burke, Shepherd (McCoy 70), Campbell, McDougall (Parry 65), Preston, Anderton.
Subs not used: Norris.