Luton Town Ladies face off against Women’s Championship side Portsmouth in the third round of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup on Sunday afternoon.
The sides are separated by three tiers. Portsmouth currently sit bottom of the Championship, with only one point after their first nine games, struggling to adapt to the second tier following their promotion to the division last season.
Although the task at hand should not be underestimated, the Hatters have experience playing against higher tier opposition, knocking out Keynsham Town in the third round of last term’s FA Cup third round and then against WSL side Brighton and Hove Albion in the fourth, although they fell to a 6-0 defeat, against the side ranked 4 tiers above.
The opposition
The Hatters will face their toughest test of the season against Portsmouth.
Pompey have only just entered the competition, alongside the other 11 Championship sides and last time out they lost 4-0 at home to rivals Southampton.
They have found life hard in the second tier and, after nine games, they have only picked up one point, scoring twice.
They are still a promising and exciting squad, however. Last season, in the third tier of women’s football, they won 20 out of their 22 league games, only losing just once and finished with an outstanding +76 goal difference.
The sides haven’t faced each other since 2017, when Pompey came out 5-1 victors.
Our incredible FA Cup journey
The Hatters’ 24/25 FA Cup campaign started with a statement 11-0 away victory against Chigwell in the second round qualifying.
St Albans City visited Sharpenhoe Road in the third qualifying round and the Ladies came out 2-0 victors to progress to the first round proper.
It looked desperate for the Ladies when they went 2-0 behind against Hutton Women, before an impressive 4-2 turnaround put us in the hat for the second round.
The second round saw an incredible penalty shootout victory over Stevenage, where 32 penalties were taken. We found ourselves 1-0 down within five minutes, but Amber Leighton levelled it up after 17 minutes, with a rocket into the back of the net. The two sides then played out a hard-fought battle for the rest of the match, taking it to penalties, where Luton won 15-14.
Support the Ladies
Get along to the game on Sunday and cheer the Ladies on against Pompey.
The game will be played at Westleigh Park, Havant & Waterlooville FC. Martin Rd, Havant, Hampshire, PO9 5TH.
Tickets available are available here: http://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/pompey-women
For directions and parking information click here: https://havantandwaterloovillefc.co.uk/club/directions-parking/
Preview by Owen Williams
