Oxford United Women’s Carly Johns marked her first start in the Vitality Women's FA Cup with a goal last Sunday, and the club’s RTC graduate is hoping the side can keep the momentum going when they welcome Charlton in the fourth round on Sunday.
"I’m pleased with how we all performed and I’m happy with my first start in the FA Cup and hopefully there will be many more to come” she said.
“My goal came about from me receiving the ball to my feet, which was a bit controversial because Liam asked me to make runs in behind instead, but you’ve got to switch it up a bit, so the opposition don’t catch on. As well as that, it was important to do my bit defensively, pressing the opposition defenders and I think that contributed massively to the game. It helped to overturn the possession and put pressure on their defenders.”
“Lauren [Haynes] and Kayleigh [Hines] like to play those through balls over the top, so I thought that if I just make those runs, we’d get loads of chances.
“I think the team was very professional against Billericay,who were a good side. Obviously, Billericay beat Ipswich the previous week and I thought they put up a good battle against us. But I thought the way in which we dealt with it was very good.
“We played to our style, breaking down the defence and finding those gaps.”
Now United are faced with the prospect of Women’s Championship opposition in Charlton Athletic in the Fourth Round on Sunday, a game which Johns is looking forward to.
“It will be a massive challenge; I think we’ve only played a couple of Championship sides in the last couple of seasons so it will be good to test how far we have come along, so I’m buzzing for Sunday”