AFC Bournemouth
AFC Bournemouth women's manager, Steve Cuss, expressed his delight at seeing the Cherries progress to round two of the FA Cup this afternoon.
Maisy Smith, Helen Bleazard, Lucy Cooper, Katie James and Gemma Hillier got the goals at Ringwood Community Hub in another superb display from the National League outfit, who ran out 5-0 winners against Bridgwater United.
After the game, Cuss gave his thoughts to afcb.co.uk, admitting it was a near-perfect outing in difficult conditions.
"I'm really pleased," he said.
"With cup football, it's great to get into the next round so I'm pleased with that, the five goals and the clean sheet as well.
"The pitch was heavy today with all the rain we've had. We had the euphoria of playing at Vitality Stadium last week, so it was another difficult challenge to come into today's game. We just found it slow at the start without really being under any pressure.
"We just needed those goals to kill the game off. We were 2-0 up at half-time and fairly comfortable, but we really pushed on with a strong performance in the second round.
"While it took us a bit of time to get going, it was obviously difficult conditions and overall I'm really pleased with the 90 minutes. It was a dominant performance and I'm pleased that we're in the next round."
The manager went on to discuss the importance of starting the second half strongly, with tough conditions and fellow step four opposition having the potential to make it a difficult afternoon.
"I felt at half-time, we had to keep going and to get that third goal," Cuss continued.
"Obviously to get a fourth and a fifth was great, plus we had numerous other chances as well. We hit the post and their 'keeper made some great saves in fairness so credit to her. I'm delighted we finished the game strongly.
"I'm excited for the draw now, which is tomorrow lunchtime at 1pm. We'll look forward to that.
"I think a home tie would be great as it's a difficult place for teams to come and play, but it's great to just be in the second round.
It matches the furthest we've ever gone, so there's lots of excitement around that and I'm really looking forward to seeing who we're pulled out against."
Read this afternoon's match report here.
Keep an eye on afcb.co.uk tomorrow afternoon for full details of the second round draw.
