Watford FC Women Head Coach Damon Lathrope has his sights firmly set on winning the FA Women’s National League Cup following a convincing 5-1 victory over MK Dons in the quarter-finals of the competition.
A free-flowing attacking display saw Bianca Baptiste open the scoring before goals from Helen Ward, Ellie Head and Annie Rossiter wrapped up the tie, with Laura Mitchell’s goal only a consolation for the visitors at Grosvenor Vale.
With Wolverhampton Wanderers or Huddersfield Town visiting Ruislip in the final four, Lathrope believes his side can go all the way in the cup competition, and was delighted to be back on home soil after nearly two months away.
“We want to win it, we’re not shying away from that,” Lathrope began. “We want silverware this year, and we’ve made that very clear amongst the group.
“It’s really good to be back here, it’s been a long time since we played here and we want to make it a fortress, and we have this season. It was really good to get the win, we definitely deserved it, we’ve worked really hard over the last couple of weeks and we needed a game off the back of it.”
Kalani Peart made her full Hornets debut, slotting into the defensive spot vacated by Grace Garrad, who left the club earlier this month. Committed in defence and carrying the ball forward to create attacks, Lathrope was encouraged by the centre-back’s first start.
“I thought she was brilliant,” Lathrope smiled. “Having not played so much this season, I thought she settled into the game really well. She showed a tenacious side to her game and defending, which we needed today.
“They’re a good team and she’s given herself a great chance of keeping her spot now. It’s healthy competition that we’ve got in the squad, and we want that across the board.”
The Watford boss also reserved praise for Baptiste, who set the tone for an eventful afternoon with an excellent strike after seven minutes.
“That was a great start for us,” reflected Lathrope. “I felt like we’d maybe started a little bit slow, and that sort of kicked us into gear.
“It was a brilliant strike. I’m really pleased for Bianca, we know she’s got it in her. Sometimes you just catch them sweetly and they go in the top corner like that did!
“Now we’re in the semi-final, we’ve got to win two more games. We know it will be a very tough test against either side, they’re both at the top end of their league. It’ll be something a bit different playing against a northern side, but we’ll do our homework on them, we’ll prepare the team and look to go and win the game.”
