Lize Kop was once again at the heart of a penalty shootout success in Monday night’s victory over London City Lionesses in the fifth round of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup.
An action-packed encounter at Hayes Lane ended 2-2 after extra time and penalties were needed to determine who would progress to the quarter-finals with holders Chelsea waiting for the winners.
Our shot stopper had already enjoyed success in a shootout earlier in the campaign – producing the heroics in our 7-6 win on penalties against Aston Villa in the Women’s League Cup – and Lize was very much at her best again in Bromley.
Having showed confidence and composure to fire home our sixth penalty of the evening, the Netherlands international then produced the key save on the 18th spot-kick, getting down low to keep out Wassa Sangare and cue the brilliant celebrations at the end.
“You're looking at the clock and then it's full-time, so you know the penalty shootout is coming. I was at a certain point, because I was so close a few times, I was like in my head, I'm going to save this one. I was feeling like ‘I'm going to go for it’, so, in the end, when you can score one and save a penalty, it's been great – but it's such a team effort.
Asked about her confidence to step up for a penalty so early in the shootout, she added: “I feel like I've got a good kick and I don't know, I just love to score. If I get the opportunity to score, like I'm a goalkeeper, when do you get the chance to score?
“Eventually, I know my job is to save the penalties. I think it gave me confidence that I could score one because I take them in training and I'm happy Chris [Williams] trusted me to give me a penalty.
The normal 90 minutes of action had pretty much everything – London City turning the game on its head with two goals in two minutes to cancel out Matilda Vinberg’s early opener, before Bethany England slotted home from the spot with virtually the last kick of the game to take the tie into extra time.
Reflecting on the whole evening and progression in the FA Cup, Lize said: “Bethany scoring the penalty at the end of the game and all the substitutes, they came in and worked so hard to be able to get into the penalty shootout.
“It's great. Today was not an easy game. It's so special to go through and this is a tournament where you want to stay in and we want to go to Wembley eventually, so what we did today was the first step to that.”
Join us in N17
We're back in Barclays Women's Super League action on Sunday 15 March (11.55am kick-off) as we take on Everton at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Grab your seats now and join us back in N17 next month!