Page 3 - Women's Soccer Scene Issue No.19 2021-22

Plymouth hoping for Home comforts

Plymouth Argyle will play their second game at Home Park this season on Sunday as they
take on Charlton Athletic in the Vitality Women's FA Cup Fourth Round.
Argyle come into the game in their best form all season after winning their first three
opening games of 2022, including a dockyard derby win against Portsmouth. They will be
hoping to cause a Cup upset against a Charlton side who currently sit in third place in the FA
Women’s Championship, the league above The Pilgrims.
It has the potential to be a record breaking game for Argyle, who have never reached
the Fifth Round before in their history as Plymouth Argyle. It is only fitting that a game of
such importance is held at the theatre of greens, Home Park. Argyle will be hoping for a
bumper crowd to cheer them on as the underdogs against their higher league opponents.
So far in the Vitality Women's FA Cup, the Pilgrims have been in fine form, with
plenty of goals on show for spectators. In the First Rround, they played out a 5-3 goal fest
against Keynsham Town, in which Natasha Knapman scored her first hat-trick for the
Pilgrims since returning in the summer. They then beat AFC St Austell 4-2 in another high
scoring game and in the Third Round, they played their part in FA Cup history when they
beat Clapton 5-0, as their opponents became the first Tier 7 side to reach that stage.
If their previous results in the competition are anything to go by, then the Home Park
tie is likely to be an entertaining goal fest against Charlton.
Meanwhile, the Addicks entered the competition at the Third Round stage and went
through to Sunday’s match with a 1-0 victory away to Gillingham in the previous round. The
club has a proud record in the competition and won the trophy in 2005 with a 1-0 victory over
Everton in the Final.
It will be Argyle's second game at Home Park this season after their match against
league leaders Ipswich Town earlier in the season. While the Pilgrims lost the game that day,
they were cheered on by a crowd of 600 spectators. Having had several improved
performances and had players like Amber Pollock and England U16 international Mari Ward
come into the side since then; Argyle will be hoping to reward their supporters with their
exciting brand of attacking football and cause a history-making upset.
Manager Ryan Perks said: “Charlton are a good side, doing well in the league above
us. The intensity levels are going to go up a notch. We’re going to have to be on our game,
move the ball quickly. But we’ve got a plan in place and hopefully we can execute it Sunday.
“But the girls are full of confidence. We’ve won our last three games all against teams
above us so the girls can take confidence from that.
“With Charlton being in the league above it’s a chance for us to show where we are as
a football club and the level we’re aspiring to reach. Hopefully it’ll be a good advert for the
South West and Women’s Football.
“It’d be massive for the girls to have a good crowd backing them. I think they thrive
off of it when the crowd gets behind them.”
Argyle midfielder Beth Ireland added: “It’s been a good cup run, we’ve had some not
so hard games in the earlier rounds. Think it might be a little different against Charlton. But
we’ll go into it, try our best and see what happens.
“We know how good Charlton are, but we’ve have a few good results so we’ll go into
the game, work hard and see what happens.
“It’s always a really good experience to play at Home Park, we all really enjoy it. All
the players are looking forward to it.”
The game kicks off at 1pm at Home Park. Anyone wishing to attend this weekend's
game can purchase tickets on the day or online at argyletickets.com. Adult tickets cost £8
while Under 23 tickets & Over 65s cost £5 and U18 tickets cost just £3.
Issue no. 19 - 27 January 2022 womenssoccerscene@mail.com