Alex Cheal was pleased with the improved showing of his Cheltenham Town Ladies side as they thrashed Brislington 5-0 at the DN Fire Stadium to progress to the next round of the SSE Women’s FA Cup.
The second qualifying round tie saw five different goal scorers with Charlotte Criddle, Georgia Brown, Mai Butler, Annie Martin and Kerry Bartlett all finding the net in a dominant victory.
Cheal had called for the Robins to step up after they scraped past Maidenhead last Sunday.
“We wanted a reaction from them, and they’ve given it today, “ he said.
“The performance has followed, and the score-line shows that a little bit more than last week.
“We had the same amount of chances last week – we just didn’t score them.
“That’s why I was frustrated at the end of it whereas in this one we created opportunities and scored five.”
Cheltenham controlled proceedings from the start with Butler coming close to opening the scoring in the eighth minute but her header was cleared off the line.
Another corner bounced around the box and the ball appeared to creep in, only for the referee to wave away the protests.
Criddle finally broke the deadlock in the 39th minute with a looping effort from a free-kick 25-yards from goal.
Their continued domination was rewarded shortly after the break when Brown picked the ball up outside the box and found the bottom right corner, leaving the visiting goalkeeper with no chance.
They added another two minutes later through Butler, who finally managed to tuck home a Criddle corner.
Brislington briefly threatened with their only shot on target as they broke the Robins defence and forced home debutant Robyn Levett into a low diving save.
Three then became four as Brown won the ball high up the pitch before picking out Martin who buried her cross from close range.
Bartlett then managed to score her first senior team goal with a fine finish from the edge of the box.
The Ladies are in home cup action once again next Sunday when they face Poole.