City were embroiled in a strong physical encounter against Leafield from Birmingham in this League Cup tie at Winchester Road, Blaby.

In a swirling strong wind good conducive football was hard to be played but City mounted an early attack with Natasha Meade firing wide.

At the other end Athletics' Centre Forward hit a thunderous shot but keeper Laura Niblett made a magnificent save to parry the ball out for a corner.

Back came City when Zira Handley got down the right flank, and crossed a good flighted ball into the box but Rachel Williams' powerful header hit the bar. The first period ended 0 - 0 in a scrappy affair.
The second period playing against the wind helped City in their build up play, with Remi Allen and Williams being instrumental in this.

The City back four of Caz Toone, Jade Radburn, Katy Morris and Lekeisha Gumbs, were having to keep tight reins on the pacey Athletic forwards who had some tricks up their sleeves which was taking a lot of concentration to deal with by the back 4.

City started to get a flowing movement down the flanks through Helen Shipman and Handley which started to expose Athletic especially on the break. The Foxes took the lead with one of these moves when Allen put Shipman in and she coolly finished on the volley from a cross.

Kara Frederick was causing a few problems in midfield for the opposition and her tricky play found Handley out on the right who cut inside her full back to hit home from 15 yards out. Athletic weren't done and another fabulous save by City's keeper, Niblett with a minute to go, kept them a clean sheet and put them into the Semi-Final.

Squad - Laura Niblett, Jade Radburn, Lekeisha Gumbs, Caz Toone, Katy Morris, Remi Allen (C), Rachel Williams, Kara Frederick, Zira Handley, Natasha Meade, Helen Shipman, Kath Glass.

Report By Rehanne Skinner