West Bromwich Albion Women’s forward Rhianne Oakley believes her two goals should put her in good stead for a league start after her side’s 7-1 away win at Knowle in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup.
A double from Oakley and Mariam Mahmood alongside goals for Phoebe Warner, Simran Jhamat and Ellie May secured the progression into the second round.
“That is the goal for me and everyone in the team,” Oakley said on the objective of starting in the league. “It is a good competitive setup, so everyone is competing each week for the starting XI.”
Oakley scored two goals for the Baggies in the emphatic win, but also had two goals ruled out for offside as well.
Siobhan Hodgetts-Still’s side opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Oakley slotted Warner through on goal to put past the Knowle goalkeeper.
The forward grabbed her first goal in West Brom colours since signing from Cardiff in the summer in the 33rd minute of the game to make it 2-0.
“Personally, for me to get off the mark and get two goals is a great feeling, but also as a team we have had a couple of disappointing results in the past few weeks and we have got a big game next week (against Nottingham Forest) so this was the perfect game to build our confidence and use that for next week’s game.”
The Albion scored three goals in as many minutes just before half-time when Mahmood grabbed her double and Jhamat met a Hannah George free-kick.
Knowle grabbed a consolation goal in the 48th minute through Natalie Gibson from the penalty spot.
However, West Brom and Oakley weren’t quite done with their goal scoring. The forward got her second of the game in the 59th minute when she drilled an effort past Jessica Jenkinson.
Rhianne gets a second! Rhianne Oakley turns her defender and drills the ball past Jenkinson.
— West Bromwich Albion Women (@WBAWomen) November 3, 2024
🔴 1-6 💙🤍 | (59')
May had a penalty for the Albion with 10 minutes to go to make it 7-1, her effort from the past was driven low past Jenkinson.
“I thought it was a good performance from myself and the team, we knew what we needed to do coming into it. That is something we have been working on this week is our in-possession quality so just making sure that we put it out on the pitch and we came away with the win.”
Following on from signing from Cardiff just back in August, Oakley said on settling in at the club: “It is really good, I am really enjoying it. Obviously, it was a big move for me to come from Cardiff, but the girls and the staff have all been really welcoming and I feel like I am at home.”
The Baggies have played 10 league games so far in the Women’s National League Northern Premier Division. “That is the goal for me and everyone in the team, it is a good competitive setup, so everyone is competing each week for the starting XI.”
