Cheltenham Town Women FC will face Yeovil Women’s FC in the first round of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup on Sunday, November 3 at Kayte Lane.
Cheltenham are the only Gloucestershire side left in the competition after Forest Green Rovers, Gloucester City, and Bishop’s Cleeve all departed the competition in the third qualifying round this weekend.
In the first round proper, FA Women’s National League Northern and Southern Premier Division sides come into the draw with clubs like Nottingham Forest, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Burnley coming into the draw alongside Cheltenham Town.
Opponents, Yeovil beat eight-time winners Southampton, 4-2 on penalties after the match ended 1-1 in normal time.
Yeovil play in the regional sixth-tier of women’s football after previously playing in the Women’s Super League as recently as 2013 before entering administration and having to make an agreement to join Bridgwater Town changing the club’s name.
Yeovil Women’s FC was founded in January 2023 and fully joined Yeovil Town FC.
We have been drawn to @YTWomenFC in the First Round of the @AdobeWFACup 🔴⚽️
— Cheltenham Town Women FC (@CTWomenFC) October 14, 2024
It will be played at Kayte Lane on Sunday 3rd November! 🔴👏#CTWFC #FAWNL pic.twitter.com/yeTKLAYRun
In last year’s competition, Tom Davies’ side beat Cardiff City Women and Exeter City Women before losing to Championship side Reading in the third round proper.
With Women’s Super League sides coming into the competition in the fourth round Cheltenham will hope to go one round better and welcome a Super League team to Kayte Lane in the new year.
There will be four seventh-tier teams in the first round proper, while numerous teams from the sixth, fifth and fourth tiers will also appear, as Cheltenham will hope for a favourable draw in the early rounds of this year’s competition.
Cheltenham have endured a difficult start to their FA Women’s National League Southern Premier Division season winning just two of their opening nine games and sitting in ninth place, five points above Plymouth Argyle in the relegation zone.
Having finished seventh in the league last campaign Davies will hope to see an improvement from his side who have played a game more in the league than both Gwalia United and Plymouth who are directly below them in the table.
They suffered a 3-0 home defeat to table-topping Exeter City on Sunday, the same team that they beat in their Women’s FA Cup second-round tie last season.
