Late goal sees Reading Ladies through
The Millwall Lionesses exited the FA Cup at the Third Round stage after a fortuitous 82nd-minute goal secured a 2-1 win for Reading Women.Emma Whitter has given the Lionesses a first-half lead, but the visitors turned the game around to book their place in the Fourth Round.
Boss Alberto Kurti was forced to name a makeshift backline, with Sinead Boyer partnering skipper Dionne Lennon at centre-back the cover the absence of Kylie Davies, and Reading looked set to capitalise early on, creating a number of chances in the opening period of the game.
Against the run of play, however, the hosts took the lead in the 28th minute when Whitter headed home a pinpoint cross.
The game then opened up into an end-to-end encounter, with both sides guilty of spurning chances, before Reading were awarded a penalty in the 41st minute after a foul from Leeta Rutherford, one which they converted to level the score up at 1-1 going into the interval.
The second-half began as the first had left off - with some frantic action at both ends of the field - and despite some positive substitutions for the Lionesses, Reading grew in dominance as the game wore on and struck a post in the 70th minute. That was only a temporary reprieve for Kurti's side, however, and Reading secured their place in the next round when a mistimed cross looped into the back of the net with eight minutes to go.