West Ham United Ladies have double reason to be in good spirits today after following up a fine weekend away win with a home draw in the Women's FA Cup.
Tony Marshall's side have been paired with Queen's Park Rangers in the third round and will be expected to progress. QPR, currently ranked sixth in the South Western Combination, are a division below West Ham United in the women's football pyramid. While admitting his side would "start as favourites", Marshall was taking nothing for granted.
He added: "Our players have always been professional and have never been complacent so we will give them the respect that they deserve and expect a very tough tie." The London derby will be played on Sunday 2 December at Harlow Town FC, with a 1pm kick-off.
On Sunday, West Ham United put the disappointment of a 2-1 away defeat the previous week against Millwall behind them with a 2-0 success at Keynsham Town in the Premier Women's League South. Both goals came in the first half with Katy Ling opening the scoring on 17 minutes and Sam Pittuck making the game safe a minute before the interval.
Next weekend, last-placed Reading Royals travel to Harlow. On paper it should be a resounding home win against a side without a point this campaign but assistant manager Alex Bonner was in cautious mood. "Although we picked up the points at Keynsham, the general feeling was that it was probably not anywhere near our best performance of the season. That said we dug in and got the result."
West Ham United Ladies: Paris Smith, Carly Roache, Jess Barling, Hannah Gilmour (Lauren White), Grace Coombs, Lindsay Morgan, Clare Rogers (Dani Hoy), Sam Pittuck, Katy Ling (Natalie Crinean), Natalie Grafton, Tracey Duxbury.
Sub not used: Toni Munro