Northampton Town Women joint-managers Josh Oldfield and Liam Williams were satisfied as their side progressed to the first round proper of the Women’s FA Cup with a 7-5 win at home to Coventry Sphinx on Sunday afternoon.
Jade Bell scored a hat-trick, Kim Farrow netted a brace whilst Vicky Barrett and Alex Dicks bagged the Cobblers’ other goals as they began their 2023-24 FA Cup campaign with a victory over their West Midlands Regional Women’s Football League Premier Division opponents.
“It’s important to win every game, but there’s something special about winning in the FA Cup,” Oldfield said.
“We’re not so pleased with the goals we conceded, but there was some good play at the top end of the pitch.
“Ultimately, we deserved to go through, but it was a lot less comfortable than it perhaps should have been.
“We looked good on the ball, but we were below our standards off it.
“We’ll come away from this looking at how we can improve.”
Oldfield and Williams’ side host FAWNL Northern Premier Division side Derby County in the FAWNL Plate second round next week.
“Derby are a well-established Tier 3 side, and they seem to have picked up their form recently after a tricky start,” Williams added.
“It’s going to be a really difficult game, but we’ll prepare as we always do and try to win.
“We’ve got a good record here at Fernie Fields, and we’d like to continue that.
“We’ll try to make the game as difficult as we can for them, be ruthless when we get opportunities and be diligent at the back.”
Kick-off at Fernie Fields Sports Ground on Sunday is at 2pm. Tickets are available from ntfcdirect.co.uk and on the gate. Season tickets are NOT valid for this fixture.
