Mansfield Town’s Ladies prepared for their League Cup semi-final in fine style with a 3-0 win over Kettering Town Women on Sunday.
Forward Androulla Kokkinou got two goals while Georgie Herring bagged once to ensure a comfortable victory for the Stagettes, who now head into Wednesday night’s semi-final against Bedworth United in good form.
Lewis Saxby’s side went into the match eager to make up for their poor performance in the reverse fixture only weeks ago, a game which Mansfield lost 4-2.
Their task was made considerably easier on paper when Kettering started the game with only eight players. Even with the numerical disadvantage, the Northamptonshire outfit put up a dogged and determined defensive effort in the first half.
The away side held out for over 38 minutes before Mansfield finally made a breakthrough. A great passing move to stretch the defence led to the goal when Laura Watton was able to ride a challenge before looping a ball over for Herring to chest down and fire into the bottom corner.
The Stagettes were able to grab their second after sharply passing the ball between themselves, a move which was finally finished off when Marie Wayne's low cross found Kokkinou at the back post.
Soon after grabbing her first goal, Kokkinou was able to score another when a quick corner pin-balled around the box before a half clearance fell to her on the edge of the box. She didn't think twice as she hit the ball first time and watched as it crashed into the top left corner.
Following the contest, manager Saxby said: "We now have to look towards Wednesday. We've played Bedworth twice already this season so we know what to expect, we just have to go out and get ourselves in to the cup final."
