Eagles' flying high

CHARLTON Athletic's dominance of the Kent Women's Cup ended at Greatness Park on Wednesday night.

Having won the cup for the last three years, and scoring an amazing 59 goals in four rounds to reach this season's final, they finally found their match.

However, early indications appeared it would be another landslide victory for the Addicks with striker Sarah Snare shooting past the Millwall goalkeeper and the near post and Kim Dixon testing Krissie Glover from range inside the opening two minutes.

Millwall, however, had other ideas and they were led well by player-manager Pru Buckley.  Her strength up front caused the Addicks problems throughout and she nipped in front of her marker to hook Amy Mason's free kick wide.

But when Charlton took the lead through Claire Tapp after 11 minutes, everyone was expecting the flood gates were about to open.

How wrong they were, as Millwall drew level seven minutes later through Kelly Campbell's drive into the left corner, the rest of the game was well fought - a good advert for women's football - but with very little of action in the final third.

Before the interval Millwall's Jessie Holman rolled a shot from distance in a good spell for Millwall when they kept the Charlton's strikers quiet.

At the other end, Kim Dixon was forced to shoot from range but her shot ended up outside the ground and was retrieved by a youngster the other side of the fence.

Charlton's best chance came on the hour mark.  Dixon played a defense splitting pass down the middle of the pitch for Becky Stokes to latch onto.  However, Millwall defender Sarah Giles recovered well to make a well timed tackle from behind as the ball rolled to her goalkeeper.

It was going to be Stokes' last action of the game as Charlton had already prepared their substitution and Jodian Clarke came into the fray.

Buckley's header went straight into Kelly Cooper's grateful hands after 66 minutes and Charlton twice went close through Snare.

As the game entered the final 20 minutes Millwall almost took the lead when Buckley played in Campbell and her low shot was parried by Cooper, who dived to her right to prevent the shot creeping inside the far post.

Clarke almost became super sub in the final four minutes, leaving Sian Senior in her wake, she drove her shot wide of the far post with only Glover to beat.

Twenty minutes of extra time couldn't separate the two sides but Millwall almost stole it at the death when Charlton skipper Kelly Newbound cleared Campbell's header off the line so the game went to penalties.

There were 18 penalties in total - which six were saved - and as in all shoot-outs there is always a victim.  Donna Kelynack reluctantly made the long walk from the centre circle to the penalty spot and blazed her kick over the Millwall bar.

Carly Eagles' blasted the winning penalty high into the roof of the net to give the Lionesses their first County Cup success since 1999 and Amy Mason held aloft the trophy to the delight of her team mates and supporters.

For the Record:

X		Charlton	Claire Tapp
X		Millwall	Kelly Campbell
O	1-0	Charlton	Daniella Farmer
O	1-1	Millwall	Sarah Giles
O	2-1	Charlton	Sarah Snare
X		Millwall	Charlotte Lee
X		Charlton	Kim Dixon
O	2-2	Millwall	Jessie Holman
X		Charlton	Jane Nelson
X		Millwall	Amy Mason
O	3-2	Charlton	Leanne Reiwy
O	3-3	Millwall	Pru Buckley
O	4-3	Charlton	Kelly Newbound
O	4-4	Millwall	Dionne Lennon
O	5-4	Charlton	Jodian Clarke
O	5-5	Milwall	Sian Senior
X		Charlton	Donna Kelynack
O	5-6	Millwall	Carly Eagles

Charlton Athletic: Kelly Cooper, Kelly Newbound (Capt), Jane Nelson, Kim Dixon, Donna Kelynack, Donnique Sinclair-Chambers, Daniella Farmer, Becky Stokes (Jodian Clarke 63), Sarah Snare, Leanne Reiwy, Claire Tapp.  Subs: Ebony Caben-Gooden, Ashlee Hinchs, Vicky Ashton-Jones, Daniela Lewis

Millwall Lionesses: Krissie Glover, Sarah Giles, Amy Mason (Capt), Carly Eagles, Sian Senior, Eve Gilroy, Dionne Lennon, Jessie Holman, Pru Buckley, Kelly Campbell, Charlotte Lee.  Subs: Chloe Louch, Harley Bennett, Ashleigh Rice, Sokhara Goodall, Claire Rafferty

Referee: Ray Thompson
Assistants: Danny Campbell & Frank Woollett
Fourth Official: Geoff Bain