Booth buoyant as Lewes set up FA Cup visit to Ipswich

The Rooks celebrate on their way to knocking London Bees out of the FA Cup | Picture: James Boyes - see more from James in the link in the article

The Rooks will travel to play Ipswich Women in the fourth round on the last Sunday in January after the Bees were stung 5-0 at The Dripping Pan.

It will be a second straight tie against a team from the Southern Premier Division – one league below Lewes – so it gives them a great chance of going further.

See pictures from Lewes’ win over London Bees by James Boyes here.

Goals from Emma Thompson (2), Ellie Mason, Libby Copus-Brown and Emily Kraft secured the Rooks’ win over the Bees.

Booth said: “I’m largely happy. We’ve only had about four training sessions, the players have been away, a long time since we’ve played, and I thought we were a little rusty in training last week.

“That was expected, but I think they turned up after a start where we controlled the game without looking like we were going to find a way through them.

“Then we eventually did and got the important first goal. It was good play from Emma to get in the box and win the penalty. She stepped up and took it and I thought she worked really hard.

“It was a fantastic goal from Ellie and she is so capable of doing that. She does those runs forward a lot and we’ve spoke a lot to her about being positive with her play because she is so good at it.

“We just want to win games and build momentum; it was important after a long lay-off to come back with a win in the FA Cup.

"London Bees worked really hard and tried to make it hard for us and all-credit to them because I think they did stifle us at times.

“We’re looking forward to a tough game against Ipswich Town, we want to win as many games as we can.”

The Bees defended well early on before a heavy tackle on Thompson allowed her to get up and put away a penalty. Mason scored after a great run from the halfway line then Thompson made it three.

Copus-Brown opened the second half scoring with a shot off the post and Kraft pounced on an error to hammer in a fifth.

Lewes return to league action on Sunday with a trip to Southampton. Booth said: “That’s a very important one.”