Adobe Women’s FA Cup Third Round Proper Draw

The draw for the Third Round Proper of the Women’s FA Cup took place at 3pm today.

It sees Championship clubs enter the draw andt is the last round before Super League clubs join the tournament.

There are 40 teams headed into the draw, all from tiers 3-6 of the Women’s football pyramid.

The draw is split into the North and South, to allow the teams more comfort and security for participating in the tournament and even just to allow the fixtures to go ahead.

On Wednesday it was announced that the new main sponsor of the tournament was Adobe. They have signed a new deal that will last for at least three years taking them to July 2026. 

Described as the world’s most recognised brand for creativity, they have said they will focus on, “increasing fan engagement and raising the profile of the competition from the qualifying rounds in September, through to the final in May held at Wembley Stadium”

There were two matches in the First Round Proper played yesterday, due to their matches being rained off twice since the original round date of 12th November.

Marine Academy Plymouth Ladies were taken to penalties by Keynsham Ladies, who then beat them 8-7. MAPL did well to take it to penalties, as they were three nil down at the break, but goals from Drewery and Thompson and an own goal took the match the whole 120 minutes.

Southampton Ladies FC hosted Brentford Women in the other First Round Proper Fixture. 

The visitors came from 3-1 down to take the match to extra-time, where they eventually lost 4-3.

Speaking after the match Nikki Woods of Brentford Women said, “They are two tiers above us and I think if you were watching the match then you wouldn’t have been able to tell that.”

Two of the Second Round matches went beyond 90 minutes, with one going as far as penalties. 

West Bromwich Women failed to score against Needham Market Women in normal time, but managed to get three past them in extra time, including a brace from Mariam Mahmood.

Darwen Women took Leeds Ladies to penalties after finishing 1-1 at 120 minutes. Darwen won the shootout 4-3. 

Out of 26 matches, 10 teams kept a clean sheet and eight teams scored at least five goals. 

The game of the weekend has to go to the match between Chatham Town Women and AFC Wimbledon Women. The final score was 5-4 with the decisive goal being scored from the spot by Ellie Jenkins. 

AFC Wimbledon thought they had done enough to take the match to extra time when Daisy McLachclan scored her debut goal for the club. They came from 4-1 down to draw it level before a penalty was given against them in the 90+4 minute.

After the match, captain GC said, “It was a tough game but we’ve come through it and it’s just another sign of how much we are growing.”

Local team Plymouth Argyle also did well, with a convincing 4-2 win over AFC Stoneham Ladies. They went in at the break 2-0 up and thought they were done and dusted going into the last few minutes of the game.

The visitors had other ideas, scoring twice in seven minutes, but Argyle had already done enough to secure their place in the hat for the next round.

The Draw

North

• Counden Court v Burnley
• Chester-Le-Street Town v Derby County 
• Darwen v Blackburn Rovers
• Hull City v Wolverhampton Wanderers
• MK Dons v Birmingham City
• Newcastle United v Stoke City
• Nottingham Forest v Boldmere St Michaels 
• Rugby Borough v Sheffield United
• Sunderland v Durham Cestria 
• West Bromwich Albion v Durham

South

• AFC Bournemouth v Charlton Athletic
• Cheltenham Town v Reading
• Crystal Palace v Chatham Town
• Ipswich Town v Lewes
• London City Lionesses v Billericay Town
• Luton Town v Bristol Rovers/Keynsham Town
• Moneyfields v Millwall Lionesses
• Plymouth Argyle v Oxford United
• Portsmouth v Southampton FC Women
• Southampton Women’s/Maidenhead United v Watford

All matches are to be played the weekend of 10th December 2023