City upset the applecart in this F.A.Cup 3rd round tie at Winchester Road, Blaby against their local rivals in a battle royale.

Forest started brightly in the early exchanges but Foxes keeper, Laura Niblett coped well. City got going with Natasha Meade firing over after some clever play in centre midfield with Captain Remi Allen and Hannah Barrett making their presence felt. Central defender Lauren Impey, played a delightful ball over the Forest defence, found Meade who interchanged with Rachel Williams who squared it to Zira Handley but shot straight at the keeper.

Forest came back and a 20 yard shot was palmed onto the woodwork by keeper Niblett with a world class save and city scrambled it away. City were constantly harrassing and not giving Forest the room to play stifling any kind of attack. City had the most of the chances with 7 shots in the first period to Forests 3 but sadly didn't convert. The next best chance fell to Williams who got on the end of a superb cross with a free header but put it just over the bar.

City started in determined fashion in the second period and took the lead when Williams threaded a great ball to Handley whose first touch saw a perfect set up on the right for her to smash home a glorious goal. City created a couple more chances when breaking quickly making Forest really work to recover but the final ball wasn't good enough to increase their lead.

Both teams were cancelling each other out but City were on top in the midfield with Barrett and Allen grafting from start to finish and Forest couldn't cope with their domination.

The City back four, where Caz Toone and Leah Rawle were holding firm never being beaten 1v1 all game, plus the two pillar of strength centre backs, Jade Radburn and the magnificent Impey also on form as danger was never far away with Forest pushing forward. All four at some stage ready to throw their bodies on the line to defend the goal and Niblett behind them as a controlling presence. In the final minutes City's Williams broke from midfield, pushed the ball out to sub, Courtney Sweetman-Kirk who held it up well, played the ball back to the inspirational Remi Allen, who just shot wide.

The City squad managed to change history with a solid performance getting to the 4th round with this 1 -0 victory after never getting past the 3rd round before and overcoming a local nemesis. All credit to the City players who beat the 13th best team in the country to enable them to progress with a deserved momentous victory. The 4th Round of the Cup has now been drawn and City have got Millwall Lionesses (A) on 6th Jan 08, a tie the Foxes Women will be very much looking forward to.

Squad - Laura Niblett, Jade Radburn, Lauren Impey, Leah Rawle, Caz Toone, Hannah Barrett, Remi Allen, Rachel Williams, Helen Shipman, Natasha Meade, Zira Handley, Katy Morris, Kara Frederick, Louise Ward, Courtney Sweetman-Kirk.

Report By Rehanne Skinner