Birmingham City manager Carla Ward ahead of her side's Barclays FA Women's Super League fixture at Brighton & Hove Albion - Image provided by FA Captureweb

Birmingham City edge towards Wembley fairytale after downing Seagulls

Birmingham City are just 90 minutes away from a fairytale trip to Wembley after defeating Brighton & Hove Albion 4-3 on penalty kicks in their Vitality Women’s FA Cup quarter-final tie at The People’s Pension Stadium this afternoon.

The two sides drew 2-2 after both normal time and extra-time but it was Carla Ward’s side who qualified, holding their nerve in the shootout.

After 18 months which have had many more downs than ups for Birmingham City fans, new boss Ward has produced a result which will breathe further life into the club in addition to the feel-good factor brought by her recent appointment at the SportNation.bet Stadium.

Sarah Mayling opened the scoring for the Blues after just five minutes but Dani Bowman levelled matters for the hosts from the penalty spot midway through the half.

Birmingham City regained the lead early in the second half with a penalty of their own which was converted by Mollie Green but Denise O’Sullivan’s header at the death forced the tie into extra-time.

The Blues needed goalkeeper Hannah Hampton to keep the scores level in extra-time with the youngster superbly denying Rianna Jarrett and ensuring that the match was to be decided on penalty kicks.

Brighton & Hove Albion missed two of their spot kicks in the shootout while Claudia Walker was the only player to fail to convert for Birmingham City as they won the tie to set up a midweek date with Everton at the SportNation.bet Stadium in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup semi-finals.

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