Chloe Winchester was a most welcome returnee on the teamsheet, as goalkeeper Lauren Dolbear and winger Becs Bell also started at Aylesford on Sunday. Dani Lane made it on to the subs’ bench with the injured trio of Hayley Bridge, Eleanor Keegan and Georgia Tibble joined on the sidelines by the suspended Tierney Scott, following her red card at Keynsham last week.
There might have been a two-division gap before kick-off but the hosts still boasted a proud unbeaten home record, having conceded a measly three goals into the bargain, so weren’t to be underestimated.
Thus, the visitors made the early running, Sophie Humphrey taking just five minutes to reach the byline and deliver for the returning Winchester to marginally miss the target at the back stick.
The opposite flank produced a similar outcome on the quarter-hour mark, thanks to Jess Richardson almost running out of room prior to home Captain Alex Witham cutting out her cross at the expense of a corner. Katie Cooper’s set-piece eventually arrived at the feet of namesake Young for a near twenty-yarder which flew narrowly over the top.
They came even closer moments later when Humphrey was barged over in the ‘d’ by Juliette Blyghton. Leaving Dan Rowe to curl her free-kick up and over the wall, which home netminder Sade Rider tipped onto the bar and then pounced on the rebound from Winchester.
More fine wing work by the increasingly influential Richardson resulted in Rider diverting the danger from Humphrey’s subsequent shot via an outstretched boot, as we reached the cusp of the midway mark in the opening forty-five.
‘Rico’ then hit the crossbar during the very next attack, in the very same minute, with Emily Linscer heading home from close range, only to be denied by the assistant referee’s raised flag.
Excellent link-up play between Holly Talbut-Smith, Young and Skipper Rowe led to the latter’s lay back being blazed above the apparatus, as Cooper lined one up twenty yards out.
Winchester started something that, helped on by Humphrey, provided Rowe with a sight of goal but the reliable Rider was well-placed to snuff out the warning signs, in the dying embers of the first-half.
Once again, in the same breath, Rider rode to the rescue; frustrating ‘Winch’ on a second occasion in quick succession; rushing to the edge of her penalty area to ensure Chloe couldn’t mark her comeback with a goal.
It came as somewhat of a shock therefore when the home side broke the deadlock five minutes after the break. Immy Armstrong’s corner was nodded in by Beth Hulme for the number nine’s ninth goal in fifteen games this season, despite Bell looking like she’d been fouled in the build-up by Rebecca Keyte with a flag-kick, not a free-kick the other way the outcome.
Not that the lead lasted long at all ! This time it was Cooper’s corner that somehow missed everyone in the box, though Young sent it back into the mixer for Linscer to finally find the net, for certain.
A healthy crowd were now enjoying an open match and Aylesford might have restored their advantage if it hadn’t been for the timely intervention of Richardson, sliding in to divert the danger away from the equally incoming Keyte.
Balancing out that chance sixty seconds before the hour mark, an identical time period past it nearly saw Bell tuck away Humphrey’s burst and ball across, after she’d made headway along the right flank. Unfortunately for the fleet-footed Becs, her contact wasn’t quite true enough to trouble Rider between the sticks.
Humphrey was giving the Kent-based homesters a torrid time, which was brought to an abrupt end shortly afterwards by Blyghton in the box. ‘Soph’ dusted herself down to confidently dispatch the subsequent spot-kick.
Round three loomed larger on the horizon when a rapid counter-attack courted controversy, thanks to Humphrey forcing a strong, airborne parry out of Rider and Rowe appearing to get it over the line upon the ball’s return South. Aylesfords’ last line of defence grateful to smother and not see her net breached again.
Undeterred, Rowe looked up, spotted the run of Bell and placed her pass perfectly into the helpfully pointed-out place that Becs could latch onto and eventually draw another stop out of Rider and another corner-kick.
While that particular deadball didn’t prove to be profitable, a spell of sustained home pressure was ultimately broken by Rowe striking the sidenetting from distance, as Reds held onto their narrow ascendancy.
Keyte, clearly inspired, found herself further out but even closer to levelling the scores, while the clock ticked ever-closer to the magic ninety.
Those digits had been passed by the time substitute Emma Healy had combined with fellow replacement Rebecca Elsley to bury her centre and send the home hordes wild.
The visitors did carve one last opportunity, in the fourth minute of stoppages, only for the recently introduced Lauren Amerena to cushion Rowe’s floated delivery into the safe hands of Rider.
So, penalties it would be and Worthing scored all of theirs (Winchester, Humphrey, Young and Rowe) to set-up Bell for a fifth and final kick, leaving Witham – and the upright – to curse her earlier luck and send the Rebels through to a record-achieving FA Cup third round tie.
