Road to Wembley- COMPLETE!!

WE DID IT!! After a couple of failed attempts since the 19/20 season (which are also documented on this blog), myself and my parter Ben finally completed our ‘Road to Wembley’ quest: attending a match from each round of the Women’s FA Cup! And what an incredible journey- taking in games from grass roots in the early rounds right through to fully professional set ups in the later stages and everything in between. The FA Cup provided us with a real cross section of the football this country has to offer, which is the beauty of the competition and why it’s the best competition in football (I say that as fact)! Each match day experience was enriching in it’s own right, whether that was in front of 273 spectators as Kiveton Park Ladies took on SJR Worksop Women in the Second Round Qualifying or in front of 18,000+ fans at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at Semi Final stage.

2534 was our total miles travelled (house to stadium by car), the longest round trip being 418 miles (Crawley Town FC for Brighton vs Man Utd) and the nearest at just 20 miles was Kiveton. We saw 45 goals scored and number of photos taken was far too many to count!

The final at Wembley was incredible- the crowd of 76,082 was the highest attended game I have ever watched and the atmosphere was great! It rounded off our FA Cup journey extremely well. A strong Manchester United side won 4-0 against (touted underdogs and first time finalists) Tottenham Hotspur, with their efforts rewarding them the clubs’ first piece of major silverware.

The FA Cup will start again in a few months, so if you’re willing to take on the challenge, then get ready! If you’re so inclined, you can see all the games we attended by clicking the #RoadToWembley filter. See you at a game then, yes?!

Road to Wembley: Semi Final

For the semi final's, we decided upon Tottenham Hotspur Women v Leicester City Women. This was the first time both of these teams reached this round of the competition, therefore in my opinion this was the more interesting fixture of the two (the other being last years finalists: Manchester United against Chelsea). Making this game even more appealing was the fact it was staged at the all shiny and new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. I was fortunate enough to gain pitchside access to photograph this tie- now the biggest stadium I have photographed in!

I wasn't sure whether I'd enjoy photographing in such a big stadium and I didn't know if my kit would quite be up to it: I don't have the longest lens and I only have one camera body. But it was actually a thoroughly enjoyable and unforgettable experience. All the photographers were situated very close to the pitch (I was worried that we'd all be miles away), so it turned out my kit was perfectly fine and I'm super pleased with the set of photographs I took. The stadium is extremely impressive and definitely lives up to all the hype. Would highly recommend a visit if you haven't already been there. Spurs Women actually play there again towards the end of the season for their last home WSL fixture against West Ham.

Stadium praising aside(!), back to the FA Cup fixture: Leicester scored early and held on for the majority of the game, until Spurs equalised in the 83rd minute. Neither team could break the deadlock in the remaining minutes, so 30 minutes of extra time followed. Before Spurs faced another penalty shoot out like in their previous round, Scotland international Martha Thomas hit the back of the net in the 118th minute in front of 18078 fans, sending Spurs to the FA Cup Final for the first time in history! They will face Manchester United at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 12th May and I am so very excited!

You can view my full set of photos HERE and as usual, 10 below:

Road to Wembley: Quarter Final

Almost 4 weeks on from the match we attended for this round, I finally got round to editing my photos: ta-da! The match was Brighton & Hove Albion Women against Manchester United Women, with the hosts losing four goals to nothing. This was the second time seeing both clubs in this season's FA Cup and I feel the result was rather predictable...

Ten below as usual and you can view the full set HERE!

Road to Wembley Continues...

At this point my attempt at photographing a game from each round from the Women’s FA Cup is a distant memory, but my plan is still to attend a game from each round (something I have been keeping up with)! Admittedly, it’s pretty frustrating that clubs don’t answer their emails regarding photography requests. Though maybe I’ve just been unlucky and not had the correct email addresses or they aren’t checked very often. Whatever the reasons, my photo challenge will have to wait until next season then, eh? It’s something I still definitely want to do!

Attending a game from the Third Round Proper was looking like it might be where this journey would come to an end (due to other commitments/ location). BUT, the bad weather did its thing and actually enabled me to attend a fixture a week later: I would have been unable to make one from that round should any of the games not have been postponed.

So it was a trip to the ‘Easy Buy Stadium’ (home of men’s side Barton Town FC) to watch Hull City Ladies take on Wolverhampton Wanderers Women. The winners of this tie would go on to face Championship side Reading FC in the Fourth Round. Spoiler alert: this opportunity was gifted to Wolves who actually went on to win the game 2-1!

Hull, who play in the FAWNL Division One North, a tier below Wolves, who (at time of writing) sit 5th in the FAWNL North, were always going to be up against it playing a side in a division above. But this is the FA Cup and anything can happen (and sometimes does)! Unfortunately that wasn’t to be in this case and the game ended 4-1 to Wolves. There was a good crowd (229) who turned out for this one and overall, despite it not especially being that near Hull, there was a great atmosphere.

The next round (Fourth Round Proper) produced some excellent fixture choices, though the one which was most appealing to my partner and I was the lowest ranked side left in the cup: Luton Town Ladies, who were to face WSL (women’s top tier) side Brighton & Hove Albion Women. This is why the FA Cup is so exciting- matches like this don’t come around that often and it’s always great for the lower side to draw a team like this. Providing it doesn’t end up a cricket score, of course. I must admit, I was mega excited for this day in the lead up!

Luton Ladies play at Sharpenhoe Road, home of men’s side Barton Rovers: a 6.6 mile trip away from Kenilworth Road (Luton’s main stadium). And located in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. Which to attend this fixture, you would have to make a bit of an effort. And that’s what exactly 1,234 spectators did. I love when there’s a big crowd and a buzz around matches like this and perhaps deep down no one really thought Luton would actually win this game (they didn’t: they lost 0-6), there was still some hope and belief- myself included. Luton played extremely well and didn’t make it easy for Brighton, but by 90 minutes it really came down to fitness/ strength. Regardless of the result, this day will live long in my memory.

And finally, to get us up to date: the Fifth Round Proper. The most appealing match in my opinion from this round was Women’s Championship side Southampton FC Women pitted against high flying WSL team Manchester United. At the time of writing, both sit 4th in their respective divisions. Yes Southampton is a bit of a trek from Sheffield (especially as a neutral), but as previously stated, there’s nothing quite like an exciting FA Cup tie, so we made a weekend of it!

I was fortunate enough to be back pitchside with my camera for this one: an absolutely unforgettable experience. Manchester United’s squad contains several Lionesses players, including the legend that is Mary Earps. It was also a sell out game, with the attendance announced 4,554. The game was played at Eastleigh FC’s Silverlake Stadium, which was almost full one hour before kick off!

There was no cupset in this round either: Manchester United won the game 3-1, quite predictably, although for a short spell Southampton looked like they could turn it around. Manchester will now face WSL side Brighton & Hove Albion Women in the quarter finals.

You can view the full set of photos on my Flickr HERE and the usual ten are below for good measure!

If this blog has got you all excited for the Women’s FA Cup, fixtures for the next round are on the FA website, which you can view HERE.

Road to Wembley #4 + #5

OK so just quickly on my ‘Road to Wembley’ #4: this one, my photography plans fell through again unfortunately (please reply to your emails football clubs!!), but I still attended a game from the First Round Proper, so my run continues: Lincoln City Women 1-5 Derby County Women. The game was played at Moorlands Sports Ground in front of 100 or so spectators…

And now for #5: one of the ties which really stood out in the Second Round Proper was Swindon Town Women vs AFC Bournemouth Women, which was to be played at The County Ground (main home of Swindon Town FC). I’ve recently really taken a liking to photographing at medium sized stadiums, so this match especially appealed (and the ground did not disappoint)! FAWNL Division One South West table topping AFC Bournemouth have not lost a league game all season, while Swindon, situated third, have only lost two. It was always going to be a close game and Swindon lead most of the match, though Bournemouth showed their strength towards the latter half and ended up winning two goals to one.

As usual, I’ll stick a few photos below and head HERE for the full set.

The next round of the cup where the Championship sides are added takes place on Sunday 10th December. You can view the fixtures here.

Road to Wembley #3

One of the ties which caught my eye for this Third Round Qualifying in the Women's FA Cup was FAWNL Division One North side York City Ladies vs Hull United AFC Women. Being born in York, I have a bit of a soft spot for any York side and having watched Hull United win 4-1 earlier this season playing in the North East Women's Regional League (one tier below York), I thought this could be an interesting match and maybe even a potential 'giant killing'. That's why the FA Cup is the best competition in football!

The game was played at the University of York Athletics Stadium, a style of ground which I always find fairly photogenic (though I know of people who moan about such set ups). I was kindly authorised pitchside access for this one, so my FA Cup photo project journeys on...

Unfortunately for Hull United, this was not the giant killing they were hoping for and was in fact pretty much a one sided affair. Though thanks to Hull's defence coupled with their keeper pulling off some fantastic saves, they kept the scoreline down to a respectable 3-0. York will face FC United of Manchester in the First Round Proper, with ties for that round taking place on Sunday 12th November- get that date in your diaries!

Below are a few photos from the game, and as usual, you can view the full set on my Flickr HERE. You can see the previous Women's FA Cup posts on the #RoadToWembley tag in the sidebar.