Essex Cup: All Saints 1 Redden Court 1 (4-5 on penalties)

Redden Court’s under-14 girls kept their nerve to win a penalty shoot-out and knock Dagenham’s All Saints out of the Essex Cup this week.

There was nothing between the two teams in the first half, despite the visitors having most of the possession.

Josie East used her pace to exploit the left hand side of the All Saints’ defence, but despite having lots of chances Redden Court could not convert.

Court started the second half brightly and went close when a fizzing cross from East just eluded Alanah Jefferies in front of goal.

Jefferies made up for her missed opportunity, though, by pouncing on a goalkeeping error to break the deadlock, but Redden Court’s celebrations were shortlived as All Saints equalised straight from the restart.

The match was extremely open with both teams going for the win, but they could not be separated and the tie went into extra-time and ultimately the lottery of penalties.

In keeping with the entire match, the shoot-out was a tight contest which required Katie Hawkes to make a decent save to keep Redden Court in with a chance of winning.

The decisive spot-kick was taken by the goalscorer Jefferies, who converted with confidence to seal a well-deserved victory for Redden Court, who will visit Newham’s Brampton Manor in the next round in October.

Louise Banham-Scott produced an outstanding performance at right-back for Redden Court, leading by example throughout the match.

Redden Court: Ellie Luxton, Louise Banham-Scott, Josie East, Katie Hawkes, Alanah Jefferies, Lois Wright, Shannon Quartermaine, Lucy Stubbs, Grace Roberts, Ellie Gibson, Kristy Robinson, Freya Duffy.