Farsley Women headed down the M1 to take on Stocksbridge Park Steels in the second qualifying round of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup with both sides full of optimism after confident first round performances.

The Farsley side was as strong as possible despite some late withdrawals due to illness but it was Stocksbridge who started fastest in the South Yorkshire sunshine taking an early lead after a nicely taken strike from a tight angle.

The Weavers did not really get going in the first half and Stocksbridge took a deserved 2-0 lead after a rapid counter attack and cross was tucked beyond Leigh Bamford in the Farsley goal.

There must have been something in the half time oranges as Izzy Roads’ side came out after the break like a whole new side and the impact of Daisy O’Brien and Ellie Edwards at both ends of the pitch brought energy and solidity respectively.

Farsley pulled one back shortly after half time after some lovely build up play that found Shirley Murphy on the left wing and it was her cross that went all the way across to Emily Kilroy at the backpost who had no time to think as she struck the ball sweetly past the Stocksbridge keeper.

Farsley were in control of the match from here but it took some time to break down the stubborn and well drilled Stocksbridge defence and perhaps were spurred on by a potentially serious looking injury to captain Chloe Rimmer from a clumsy challenge. Fortunately Chloe was able to walk off the field at the end of the game and it looks better than first feared.

With the match into the final ten minutes, substitute Leah Cooper flicked on a looping ball and found Emma O’Hanlon who picked her spot and fired home to complete the comeback and triggering wild celebrations on and off the field.

The celebrations were short lived as Stocksbridge thought they had won the game with a lobbed effort that came off the inside of the post before hitting the back of the net, but the ever reliable Shirley Murphy scored a trademark goal less than 60 seconds later to cap off a player of the match display that took us to penalties.

Always a lottery, the penalty shootout was not to be for Farsley and on sudden death it was a great save from the Stocksbridge goalkeeper that sees them continue their FA Cup run and we wish them the best of the luck in the next round.