ACCRINGTON and Rossendale College Girls Football Academy reached their second ESFA Cup final in three years thanks to a hard-fought 3-1 win against York College.

AccRoss had previously beaten Loreto College, LFC Foundation College, Runshaw College and Gateshead College to get to the last four whereas York College had to overcome Wyke 6th Form College, Prior Pursglove College, Lincoln College and Huddersfield College.

It was the third occasion the two teams have met this season with Accrington and Rossendale winning the meeting early in the season and both teams playing out a tight 1-1 draw only a week ago.

AccRoss started brightly and a new 3-5-2 formation allowed them to stamp early authority on the game - with wing backs Ali Johnson and Ellie Hilton causing problems in wide areas for York College who were playing a 4-4-2 formation.

It was the latter who created the first goal of the game after only nine minutes when a great run down the right and cross was slid into the goal by AccRoss top scorer Alice Adams.

The game was stretched with chances for both teams and AccRoss having to be defensively well organised and benefiting from in form goalkeeper Katie Maher stopping York from equalising.

At the other end the attacking duo of Alice Adams and Ellie Doggett were lively and captain Ali Johnson still creating mayhem down the left hand side and unlucky not to have added to the score line.

AccRoss doubled their lead in the 25th minute when a fantastic deep corner from Johnson was headed home at the far post by Molly Martin.

It was all hands to the pump for the last 20 minutes of the first half as the AccRoss midfield three of Molly Martin, Gabby DiFalco and Karis Harrison worked tirelessly to try and dominate the middle of the park whileJess Riley, Katie Samuels and Olivia Wilson stood strong as the defensive unit to try and stop York getting back into the game. AccRoss needed a couple of good saves from Katie Maher and the help of the woodwork to get to half time still 2-0 up.

The second half started similar to the first half with both teams creating chances and a mixture of good defending, heroic goalkeeping and poor finishing meant the score remained 2-0. York finally managed to breach the AccRoss defence with a quick counter attack and a well taken finish getting them back into the game with 65 minutes on the clock. AccRoss came back to life after the goal and put constant pressure on the York defence with Adams and Johnson both going close to a third.

But in the 75th minute, captain Johnson sealed victory when, after great work by Doggett, she was released down the left hand side to fire hard and low across the York goalkeeper into the bottom right hand corner for her 15th goal of the season.

The floodgates could have opened after the third goal but again a combination of excellent goalkeeping and poor finishing stopped Adams, Johnson and Samuels from further adding to the scoreline so Accrington and Rossendale College had to settle for 3-1.

AccRoss now look at the match between West Herts College and Solihull College in anticipation to find out who they will face in the Final, which will likely be played on Wednesday 16th March, hoping to win the most prestigious prize on offer in college football.

Team: 1. Katie Maher, 2. Olivia Wilson, 3. Jess Riley, 4. Gabby DiFalco, 5. Katie Samuels, 6. Molly Martin, 7. Ellie Hilton, 8. Karis Harrison, 9. Ellie Doggett, 10. Alice Adams, 11. Ali Johnson. (c) Subs: 12. Nicole Malpus (for Olivia Wilson) 13. Rachel Massey, 14. Olivia Hooper (for Molly Martin) 15. Zaynab Hafeji (for Ellie Doggett) 16. Katie Dudgeon (for Ali Johnson)