Sunday 27 September 2026
FA WNL Cup
MGroup Stadium, Oxford
Oxford United… 1
(Manders 85’)
Arsenal PGA… 1
(Conway 76’)
Oxford United Women scored a late equaliser to draw with Arsenal PGA in their final group game of the FA WNL Cup.
In a highly-competitive contest, Arsenal opened the scoring in the 76th minute through Abigail Conway, before Holly Manders scored a deserved equaliser with five minutes to go.
The draw means Oxford finish top of their group, without defeat, to proceed to the next round of the Cup. Over the course of the group stage the Yellows also picked up points with wins over Abingdon United and MK Dons, scoring 14 goals across the three games.
U’s manager Liam Gilbert made five changes to the side that beat Plymouth 5-0 last weekend in league action. This included another start in the competition for 17-year-old goalkeeper Olivia Sieradzka, a graduate of the Girls' Academy.
The game started competitively with both sides looking to impose themselves on their opponents. The first chance of the game came in the 11th minute as an Oxford press drew a free-kick in a dangerous position, but Grace Palmer’s resulting cross narrowly missed the head of Shaunna Jenkins. After the first fifteen minutes, Arsenal looked dangerous when counter-attacking, but Oxford began to have more possession and continuously probed the Gunners defence with long balls.
In the 17th minute, an interception from Maisy Barker led to a shot from Emma Thompson which drew a save, before Arsenal created their first chance in the 20th minute. A long ball over the U’s defence led to a promising cross but the United defence put their bodies on the line, blocking the resulting shots until Sieradzka claimed the loose ball.
As the game reached the 27th minute, Palmer played a through pass into the path of Barker who put in a brilliant ball across the face of goal, but there was no one to meet it. Only a few minutes later an Ellie-Mae Richardson shot from the edge of the box flew past the wrong side of the post as the Yellows ramped up the pressure.
Multiple Oxford chances came and went in the next ten minutes, with the best of them coming from set-pieces. First, another Palmer cross from a free-kick was met by Riva Casley who could only head over the bar from close range, before Jenkins headed wide soon after from a Maddie Brant corner.
In the 40th minute, the U’s came their closest to scoring in the first half. Palmer picked up the ball on the edge of the box and produced a powerful strike which thundered against the crossbar, encapsulating a frustrating half in front of goal for the Yellows. As the half came to a close Oxford ended it passing well but still unable to make a breakthrough, whilst the Gunners continued to look dangerous in transition.
Shortly after the second half began, Arsenal created another opportunity as they won the ball in the United half, leading to a volley from close range which flew over the crossbar. Despite a fast start to the second half from the opposition, the U’s continued to look the most likely to open the scoring, and in the 56th minute a well-worked move resulted in a Barker shot which was straight at the opposition goalkeeper.
In the 62nd minute, with the game still in the balance, Liam Gilbert decided to look to his bench as Nicola Gibson, Jenna Legg and Sophie Quirk came on for Barker, Palmer and Ruby Sealey. Quirk, who scored a hat-trick last weekend, almost made an instant impact as she drove to the byline on the right wing before her cross was claimed by the Arsenal keeper.
In the 67th minute, there was another Yellows change as Manders came on for Shelly Provan in an attacking swap as Oxford continued to look for an opening. Only a minute after the change, United struck the woodwork again as a Quirk shot from the edge of the box smashed against the post. This was quickly followed by another driving run from Quirk who released Thompson but her cross could only find the opposition goalkeeper.
The U’s were knocking on the door with a flurry of attacks, but they received a warning from Arsenal in the 70th minute, as Jenkins was forced to make a last-ditch tackle at the end of a threatening Gunners attack. From the resulting corner, Manders was forced to make a goal-line clearance at the back post, and the game was now on a knife-edge.
At the other end, Manders made a darting run with the ball at her feet, before shooting from a tight angle on the left wing, to force a save at the near post. As the clock ticked into the final fifteen minutes, the game began to become more open, leading to an exhilarating finale.
In the 76th minute, Arsenal opened the scoring as a twist and turn from a Gunners attacker created an angle for a shot on the edge of the United box. The subsequent shot from Conway clipped the underside of the crossbar on its way to the back of the net to leave Oxford a goal behind.
The Yellows responded to the goal with a determination to score, with attack after attack being mounted on the opposition defence. Arsenal still looked a threat on the counter however with Jenkins producing an outstanding block in the 83rd minute to deny the opposition a second goal. This blocked proved crucial as only two minutes later Manders levelled the score with her 15th goal of the season. An audacious long-range effort from Legg was dropped by the Gunners' goalkeeper on the goal-line, as Manders followed the ball through with a striker’s instinct to tap into an empty net, and Oxford had finally got the goal they deserved.
As the game went into the final minutes, the U’s pushed for a winner, dominating the closing exchanges, and in the 93rd minute a Manders corner from the right came straight off the far post before a scramble in the box was cleared by the opposition. Oxford had come excruciatingly close to a winner, but they were ultimately unable to find one. The final whistle blew to confirm the 1-1 scoreline. The U’s looked disappointed to not find a winning goal, but the draw means that they end the group stage of the FA WNL Cup as unbeaten group winners, looking impressive in the competition so far.
To watch yesterday’s post-match interviews with Liam Gilbert and Maddie Brant please click HERE.
Next up is a return to WNL Southern Premier Division action. Oxford United will make the trip to Dorset to face AFC Bournemouth on Sunday 4 October.
Oxford United: Sieradzka, Provan (Manders 67’), Wiseman, Casley, Richardson, Thompson, Sealey (Quirk 62’), Jenkins, Palmer (Legg 62’), Brant, Barker (Gibson 62’)
Subs: Wookey, Burgess
Report by Toby Ludbrook
