Martha Thomas’ first goal of the season was enough to secure a 1-0 win at Bristol City on Sunday afternoon and secure our spot in the quarter-finals of the Subway Women’s League Cup.
Handed her first start of the campaign at Robins High Performance Centre in one of three changes by Martin Ho, Thomas was on hand to open the scoring just 16 seconds into the second half as she guided home Matilda Vinberg’s cross – her first goal in Lilywhite since January, 2025.
That proved to be the difference in a cagey affair in our final game of the group phase where we withstood some late pressure from the Robins to record our third clean sheet in the competition. The result sees us end this stage at the top of the group and cement our spot in the final eight, with the draw taking place on Tuesday evening (25 November).
On a cold and breezy afternoon in the southwest, we looked to make an instant impact when Amanda Nilden’s powerful left-footed strike from just inside the box struck the inside of the far pqost. However, from that point onwards, the first period didn’t yield many chances, Thomas did have the ball in the back of the net after reacting quickest to Olivia Holdt’s low driven shot being saved, but she was deemed to be in the offside position and was disallowed.
Olivia Holdt on the ball in the early stages
The Robins were providing a threat when going forward, Olivia Johnson especially on the left-hand side, although Lize Kop was rarely called into action in the opening 45 minutes. We did enjoy majority of the possession but credit to the home side’s defence who remained defensively disciplined to limit us to very few opportunities, as both sides couldn’t be separated at the break.
However, after just 16 seconds from the restart, we had broken the deadlock when Vinberg’s cross from the left, after a charging run by the Sweden international from kick-off, found Thomas at the back post and she guided the ball into the bottom corner to open her account for the campaign. Our number 13 was a lively outlet in the early stages of the second period, who was making her 50th appearance for us in all competitions, as she picked out Cathinka Tandberg inside the area this time with a lofted ball from the left of the byline but the Norway international was unable to test Williams.
Lexi Lloyd-Smith drilled wide of the target as the Robins looked to respond but, on 67 minutes, we were inches away from doubling our lead when Olivia Holdt’s strike from distance struck the crossbar. Substitute Lenna Gunning-Williams was unable to connect to Jess Naz’s low ball across the face of the goal as we searched for a second to secure our position in the game.
The home side continued to push for a response at the other end of the pitch, Lloyd-Smith firing narrowly wide of the target once again from edge of the box, but we went the closest to a second goal when Kit Graham’s free-kick from around 30 yards out was tipped around the post. Molly Bartrip stepped off the bench in the closing stages of the contest for her first appearance of the season, as we saw the game out with a third successive clean sheet in the competition.
