Well where do I start with this one? Firstly we had to rearrange the pitch venue after the downpours we had and led to the Garden Walk pitch being unplayable. So the morning of the game was stressful trying to get a pitch to play on, getting in touch with the opposition and then the ref to confirm everyone was happy for the change.

I could sense from while I was sorting this out that the ladies 110% wanted this game on and so did I!

Finally at around 12:00 it was all confirmed from all sides this game was on!

This game we knew would be tough but with the semi final up for grabs we knew we needed to give our all. Solihull Moors are a great team and sit high up in contention for the premier League title.

After beating 2 premier teams to get here why could we not beat another! We are a great team with the determination, the passion and energy these ladies put in week in week out I believed we can do it and I said to them to believe in yourselves and believe in each other! Again we were short with only 1 sub but again it did not faze us.

So as the game started we were straight on it and had a chance early on to take the lead. We put the pressure on them and we were playing really well, I mean really well. Everyone is playing their part and doing their job. We made the breakthrough with a brave goal from Nicole who got a knock from scoring.

That just shows what these ladies will give to get a goal. We continued playing well in the first half with more chances where the keeper did a couple of saves to stop it being more than 1-0 at half time.

Second half we stuck at it with the wind finally in our favour this time after playing 45 mins against the wind.

Again we had chances then we got the breakthrough we deserved when Shaquanna played a perfect pass for Libby (captain) to put it in.

We then kept the game well, Solihull did go through a couple of times but Kat was always ready for anything that came through the defence, also doing a couple of saves to keep them out.

I have to praise the whole back line including the keeper as they stuck at it together, the middle of the park was great in the battles, then the attacking from outside and up top doing what they do.

Even at 2-0 up I kept on to keep focused and we play till that whistle is blown, give everything till the end. That's exactly what we did to come away with a 2-0 Victory and fully deserved too. I struggled in the second half of the second half to get my instructions over due to losing my voice, and I'm sure I walked the distance of a marathon kicking and heading every ball played on the pitch.

I want to say how proud I am of each and every player in this team, for our first season together as Gornal Athletic Ladies and be in the semi final of the cup, and only one loss in the league just shows the characters we have here.

All of this is down to the team, all I and the coaches can do is ask them to do what we want to be done to get the wins and stick together, once they go on that pitch whether in the league or the cup it's down to them, and they don't disappoint us.

I want to say a big thank you to the supporters who came to the game to cheer them on and the coaches who help me and the coaches from the other Gornal Athletic teams and to Lee
Farrington for coming too, it means a lot to see you all there.

We now turn our focus onto next Sunday where we are back into the league games and that's our focus.

Thank You
Stu