By Jeff Burnige
After the previous weekend’s controversial defeat at Fulham in the league, the Lionesses’ caretaker management team of Alex Russell and first-team coach Adam Rowland were targeting progress from this FA Women’s Cup second qualifying round tie.
They made one change to their starting XI, replacing the injured Tyra Poole with the returning star defender Poppy Payne. The players produced a highly motivated performance on a Barn Elms grass pitch badly in need of a cut.
The Lionesses started slowly on the difficult surface as the Greater London League opposition pushed forward. But in the eleventh minute, Millwwll top-scorer Emma Whitter opened the scoring, followed by a second senior goal from seventeen-year-old Melissa Jones, who had laid on Whitter’s opener.
By half-time, the Lionesses had established a rhythm and skipper Grace Seely had added a third.
Millwall came out determined to rebuild confidence by scoring more goals, and they did just that. Midfielder Ella Bailey scored twice and Whitter completed her hat-trick.
The management brought on another seventeen-year-old in the excellent Ellen Napper, as well as stylish midfielder Emily Symonds and most notably forward Grace Laverick, back from a three-match suspension resulting from a red card at Saltdean.
Symonds slotted in for Chloe Burr and Laverick for Whitter. Only three substitutes out of seven named are permitted in the FA Cup, and these three performed very well in a dominant last 20 minutes.
Laverick bagged an incredible four goals in eighteen minutes to complete the scoring, and looked impatient to put the frustrating suspension behind her.
The Lionesses have been drawn against seventh-tier Margate at St Paul’s on October 22.
Millwall are back in league action this Sunday. Kick-off against Aylesford in Rotherhithe is at 1.30pm.