READING FC WOMEN moved through to the FA Women’s Cup quarter-finals with a penalty shootout victory away at Tottenham Hotspur.
After the sides were unable to be separated throughout 120 minutes of football, the cup tie had to be decided from the spot.
In a tense shoutout, Lauren Wade hit the winning penalty for the Royals after Kerys Harrop struck the crossbar for Spurs.
Spurs went close to grabbing a lead early in the match when Ashleigh Neville burst forward on the overlap after stealing the ball from Emma Mukandi, but her shot rolled across the six-yard box and just evaded her onrushing teammate.
Moloney had to stay on her toes to keep out an acrobatic effort from Nikola Karczewska which turned out to be a comfortable stop for the Royals keeper.
The Royals worked an opening on the left and were able to test the goalkeeper with a shot from Charlie Wellings that was easily saved.
Kelly Chambers’ team got on the front foot and almost grabbed a lead with an outrageous effort from Jade Moore. She spotted the keeper off her line and tried to catch her out despite being wide on the right, but the keeper recovered to make the stop.
Moving into the second-half, midfielder Rachel Rowe strode forward with purpose, skipped past two challenges before unleashing a fierce strike that lifted just over the target in what would have been a spectacular solo strike had it found the net.
With the game still level after 90 minutes, the teams moved into 30 minutes of extra time to try and find a winner.
Spurs again tested Moloney with a shot from distance from Rosella Ayane that was turned behind for a corner.
The best chance of the game came late in the day for Spurs when Ayane’s burst down the right followed with her picking out Kit Graham in the middle.
The forward did well to bring the ball under her spell, but couldn’t apply a finish as she skewed her shot wide of the post.
But neither side were unable to break the deadlock and the game had to be decided by a penalty shootout.
The penalties were on a knifes edge, similar to the game after 120 minutes of football, with four successful penalties from each side.
However, it was Reading who had the advantage when Harrop stepped up and narrowly missed the top corner when her shot bounced off the crossbar, giving the Royals the chance to take the tie with their next kick.
Wade accepted the challenge and dispatched her spot kick beyond the keeper into the bottom right corner to send Reading through to the last eight of the competition.
Tottenham: Korpela, Turner, Bartrip, Harrop, Karczewska, Ale, Bizet, James, Iwabuchi, Spence, Neville
Subs: Graham, Ugogagu, Ayane, Zadorski, Houghton, Gunning-Williams, Spencer
Reading: Moloney, Mukandi, Evans, Wellings, Eikeland, Harries, Mayi Kith, Moore, Rowe, Vanhaevermaet, Woodham
Subs: Caldwell, Alexander, Wade, Troelsgaard, Bryson, Burns, Hendrix
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