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Saturday 08 February 2025 16:15
Manchester United have advanced into the Adobe Women’s FA Cup quarter-finals for the third year in a row, securing our passage from the fifth round in Saturday evening’s 6-0 win over Wolves at New Bucks Head.
Wolves had scored 31 FA Cup goals through the opening four rounds of this season’s competition, including 14 in the third round alone. But this was a very different kind of test for Dan McNamara’s Women’s National League North side.
Elisabeth Terland had opened the scoring midway through the first half, a lead which Galton doubled before the break – marking her landmark 150th United appearance with a goal, only the fourth player to reach that milestone after Ella Toone, Millie Turner and former skipper Katie Zelem.
The third and fourth from Aoife Mannion and Toone respectively came in quick succession after half-time, before 17-year-old Mared Griffiths made it a really special debut with two late strikes of her own.
FIRST HALF
Wolves made a brave start to the tie, putting pressure on the ball and trying as best they could to minimise the two-division gulf between the sides.
United forced home goalkeeper Bec Thomas into early saves, doing really well to parry Grace Clinton’s volley to safety, as well as grasping a Toone shot that bounced just in front of her. Toone had also sent a dangerous attempt just wide of the far post in the opening exchanges.
Wearing our white third kit, United camped out in the Wolves half for much of the opening 45 minutes, as Thomas also got behind a scuffed effort from Clinton to frustrate the cup holders.
Thomas came up hero for Wolves again midway through the half when Melvine Malard was put through on goal, denying the French forward. Toone’s rebound was then blocked just in front of the goal-line. But, as United recycled the attack, Wolves’ resistance finally broke and Malard’s ball across the penalty area from the right was turned in by Terland at the far post.
Malard knocked a close-range volley over the bar as the first half continued, with a flick-on header from Galton right in front of Thomas also just missing the target. But our No.11 soon doubled the lead, checking back after entering the box from the left and deceiving Thomas with a low right-footed shot to the near post.
The heavily involved Malard took a painful knock in first-half stoppage time, putting herself into the right position but hooking over and taking a bang to the leg for her trouble.
Elisabeth Terland fired United ahead midway through the first half.
SECOND HALF
The third United goal from Mannion, her first for the club, came just six minutes into the second period. Turner’s searching ball to the far post was knocked down across the six-yard box by Terland, with Mannion on hand to convert with a straightforward finish.
Toone then immediately continued her excellent recent goalscoring form, managing to squeeze a low strike just inside the post from distance, evading Thomas. Maya Le Tissier similarly tried her luck with a powerful long-range drive, but the Wolves goalkeeper was equal to it.
Ella Toone scored a sixth goal in her last five appearances.
Into the final quarter, a fifth goal was so close when the ball dropped to Clinton and her shot agonisingly struck the angle of post and crossbar.
The midfielder then did well to engineer room for another shot with a clever drag back, firing wide to the left of the target. Substitute Rachel Williams was no more than a few inches away from adding to her FA Cup tally, after latching onto Malard’s deft through ball. Turner later had the ball in the net, only to see an offside flag raised.
Griffiths was the player who was finally able to add the fifth, capitalising on an unfortunate spill from Thomas, who had initially saved from Turner’s towering header. Griffiths made it an even more memorable debut in stoppage time, volleying the ball as it dropped invitingly and seeing it squirm through the body of Thomas, who had performed admirably despite the score-line.
We now await news of our opponents in the last eight of the competition, with the quarter-final draw due to take place from 18:30 GMT on Tuesday evening on the Adobe Women’s FA Cup YouTube channel.
United were always in control of the cup tie.
MATCH DETAILS
Wolves: Thomas; Jenner (Smith 64), Johnson, Morphet (c); Toussaint, George (Holmes 81), Merrick (Quigley 65), Anderson, Roberts (Simkin 46); Greengrass, Hughes (Cross 83).
Subs not used: Clarke, Fryer, Denham, Loydon.
Booked: George 58.
United: Tullis-Joyce; Mannion, Le Tissier (c), Turner, Sandberg (Williams 61); Miyazawa (Awujo 70), Clinton; Malard (Griffiths 80), Toone, Galton (Galton 61); Terland (Geyse 61).
Subs not used: Middleton-Patel, Hill, Riviere, Janssen.
Goals: Terland 26, Galton 36, Mannion 52, Toone 54, Griffiths 88, 90+5.
Attendance: 5,008.
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Saturday 08 February 2025 16:15
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