Hampstead Women FC caused one of the upsets of the season when they beat Haringey Borough in the FA London Senior Women’s Cup.
Their reward is a tie against Tottenham Hotspur January 17. The winners will meet Arsenal, the nine-time consecutive Premiership champions and European Cup winners.
Up against opponents from four divisions higher and only two divisions below the women’s Premier League, Hampstead won 2-1 in extra time.
The team had nine players out of 16 in the Team GB open squad at the 18th Maccabiah where women’s football was hosted for the first time. Captain Ellie Bard and attacking midfielder Kate Freeman played key roles in the cup win along with Emma Wragg who dropped out of the Maccabiah squad.
Manager John Baker said: “I am so proud of the girls. There is such a tremendous team spirit. They are playing beautiful, fast and dynamic passing football, at a level well beyond our league ranking suggests possible. But this is exactly why they say that the cup brings such romance.
“It’s a chance for the little team to prove themselves on the big stage, and that’s exactly what we’ve done here today. Our Head Coach, Ian Gannon needs to take a lot of the credit, however. There are only a few women’s clubs in the country that can boast an UEFA-A pro-licence coach, and we are lucky to have him here.”