Millwall Lionesses were thumped by a ruthless Reading Women’s side in the Lionesses’ final game of the Continental Tyres Cup, losing 5-0 at St. Paul’s Sports Ground.

Millwall and Reading had not played a competitive game since early November, so both teams had a long time to prepare. However, it turned out to be full-time Reading that came out on top.

Reading started the game strongly, playing the ball around in the midfield waiting for the perfect opportunity to try and beat the Millwall defence. Fara Williams had the first opportunity on goal in the sixth minute, but her shot went wide of the Millwall goal.

The breakthrough came in the 38th minute. It started off in the Reading box when Rianna Dean had a golden opportunity to put Millwall ahead, if it had not been for some heroic goalkeeping and defending. Reading quickly countered and Brooke Chaplen made no mistakes to put Reading ahead.

Going in at half time Millwall could feel hard done by, but the game was still not out of their reach, with Reading only leading the game 1-0.

It took Reading just eight minutes after the restart to grab their second. Clever play between Remi Allen and Williams saw Rachel Furness extend The Royals’ lead. Suddenly Millwall heads dropped with the game now looking beyond their reach.

Five Star

In the 60th minute The Royals got their third goal after a well-worked corner routine saw Lauren Bruton score. It took just six minutes for Reading to get their fourth, with Furness getting her second goal of the game.

Millwall resorted to taking long shots, as the Reading defence held firm and restricted any of The Lionesses’ forwards getting in to the 18-yard box.

Four minutes from the final whistle, Reading rounded off a five-star performance with their fifth goal. Chaplen got herself on the score sheet for the second time and this was the end of the road for Millwall Lionesses’ cup campaign.

Reading Women topped Group One South of the Continental Tyres Cup with 12 points by winning all of their games, whilst Millwall Lionesses finished fourth in the group only winning one of their four games.

Millwall Lionesses will now return to League action, when they take on Tottenham Hotspur Ladies next week at St Paul’s Sports Ground.

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Marcus Lee works at West Ham United. He provides match previews, match reports and news articles on the women’s team for the official club website and writes content for match-day programmes. During this time Marcus has developed key contacts with numerous members of the club.
Marcus is also a UELSports Multimedia Intern. He films and edits highlights of sports at UEL, with Lewis McKean, for the official UELSports social media pages.
He is the Rising East editor for West Ham United Women, Millwall and Millwall Lionesses.
Twitter: @marcus_lee