WANDERERS Women’s overcame a major week of disruption to claim their place in the First Round Proper of the Women’s FA Cup.
After the sacking of head coach Myles Smith and assistant Megan Campbell and the fall-out of what had become an ugly situation behind the scenes, it was back to work on the pitch for what proved a solid 5-1 win against Rutherford Ladies.
Tom Cunniff has been placed in interim charge of the side and was full of praise for the team which had been decimated by the departure of several regulars in the aftermath of the management changes.
“It has been tough this week but the attitude and performance of the girls, you wouldn’t have noticed it,” he said.
“They turned up from the get-go, everything has been positive, they knew they had a job to do but they went out there and put on a brilliant performance.
“We got the result and we’re into the next round.”
Just four players who had started the previous weekend against Preston North End were still in the starting line-up in Gateshead and Cunniff was pleased to see the performance level had been kept high despite the wholesale changes.
He said: “There’s a lot of talent at this football club and whether they started or came off the bench, every one of them put on an amazing performance of really exciting, attacking football, especially at the back end of the first half and all second half we looked really strong.
The draw for the First Round proper will be made live on the Adobe Women's FA Cup channels via YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and X from 7pm this evening.
Teams from the third tier downwards will enter the competition, and Cunniff would like to see Wanderers paired with one of the top names.
“It’s the furthest we have got in the FA Cup, so it’s exciting for the club,” he said.
“We want to test ourselves and challenge the biggest clubs, so we’re all looking forward to seeing who we get.”
The draw will be presented by Flo Lloyd-Hughes and with Rosie and Molly Kmita and former England international Lianne Sanderson with the games set to take place on Sunday, October 26.
The draw will be split into three groups, with 56 ties in total across all of the groups.
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