Utilita Girls Cup Area Final 2022
Wigan Athletic were the champions of our Utilita Girls Cup Area Final after defeating Huddersfield Town 3-1 to progress to the Regional Final.
10 teams, split into two groups of five took part in the Area Final with the top 2 teams from each group progressing to the semi-finals.
Matches were 12 minutes long, going into the lunchbreak after three matches played, the groups were finely poised with Group A, involving Accrington Stanley, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Bradford City and Crewe Alexandra, remaining so tight that anyone could still progress going into the final two fixtures.
Group B, which involved Harrogate Town, Huddersfield Town, Oldham Athletic, Rochdale and Wigan Athletic, was more clear-cut as Wigan and Huddersfield emerged clear winners and runners-up of the group respectively.
However, going into the final game of the group stages, Group A was still all to play for. Bradford and Stanley were level on points and goal difference, meeting each other in the last fixture. Blackburn were two points behind with an inferior goal difference, meaning they had to win by at least two goals in order to have any chance of progressing further.
The match between Bradford and Stanley finished 0-0 as both teams finished the group stages on five points with matching goal difference. However, Blackburn were 5-0 victors over Bolton, sending Rovers into the semi-finals, as Bolton remained group winners.
Wigan met Blackburn in the knockout stages with the match ending 4-2 to the Latics as Huddersfield overcame Bolton via a penalty shootout in the other semi-final.
Unbeaten so far in the competition, Wigan showed their class once more in the final, defeating the young Terriers to take home the Utilita Girls Cup Area Final trophy, where they will take part in the Regional Finals on the week commencing 14th February 2022 held at Derby County.
Thank you very much to all 10 teams who travelled to the Stanley Sports Hub to take part in the competition with all matches played in great spirit. A special mention the girls from Bacup & Rawtenstall Grammar School who presented Accrington Stanley brilliantly throughout the competition.
