Swindon Town Women continued their impressive 19-game winning streak as they beat a tough Oxford City side to progress into the Third Round of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup.
Richard Wood’s side would once again pick up a victory thanks to in-form forward and captain Annie Colston, as she has already equalled her second-best season for the club and is on track to break her own record of 46 goals before the end of the season.
Colston scored a trio of goals on Sunday afternoon, including a spectacular finish from the edge of the area following her equally as spectacular two-touch touch control before striking on the volley.
On the forward’s impressive display, Richard Wood said: “She’s doing her job, that’s what she’s there to do.
“I think the thing that’s so impressive is the numbers and the consistency, and then if you look at the three types of finishes, you’ve got a penalty, you’ve got a poacher’s finish, and then you’ve got some absolute quality from her movement to receive the high ball, and then a touch to get it under control, and then a quality finish. It’s an outstanding goal from an outstanding player.”
Annie Colston completes her hat-trick in style after a lovely bit of skill! 😮💨#AdobeWomensFACup @SwindonTownWFC pic.twitter.com/o2hoK7Tpks
— Adobe Women's FA Cup (@AdobeWFACup) November 23, 2025
Despite putting three past their opponents on the day, Town remained largely in control of the game and could have added more to their tally, with Oxford City sitting in deep and putting in some impressive defensive blocks and saves to keep themselves in the game.
“There’s no need to get frustrated about the fact that we’ve hit the cross-bar, the keepers made some great saves, and there’s been some great last-minute blocks, etc.
“We could have scored more goals today, but the object of this competition is not to get a goal tally, it’s to win the game and get through to the next round, and that’s what they’ve done.”
With the three-goal difference being the key talking point of the day alongside Annie Colston’s impressive finish, the Reds’ defence played a vital part in building attacks and keeping organised with Hannah Cox in goal, keeping her eighth clean sheet and Sahara Osborne-Ricketts playing balls in behind.
“I think what the defence had to do well today is obviously them dictating what we’re doing, because they were so deep, Sahara is set up a lot of what we’re doing from the back line.
“We’re getting quite progressive, and so it just takes a second ball over the top, they’ve had to deal with some direct play on the counter, and that requires a bit of concentration and focus to make sure, and you’ll also have seen from the players that when there’s been that transition, the desire and work-rate and effort from the players to get behind the ball and do the honest dirt side again, even though most of the work today was with the ball, they were prepared to do that.
“That just shows their togetherness and their desire to keep getting more wins.”
