READING cruised through past non-league Cheltenham Town to book their place in the next round of the FA Women’s Cup.
The Royals started quickly and found the opening goal just nine minutes in when Deanna Cooper rose highest at the back post to head past the keeper.
The Robins were unfortunate not to find an instant reply when they struck the crossbar and were then punished when the visitors executed a clinical counter attack.
Having survived a close scare, Reading broke quickly through Lily Woodham, Halle Houssein and Charlie Wellings before the move was finished off by Lauren Wade.
Reading made an ever faster start in the second-half and scored two quickfire goals to kill off the tie.
Wellings was on the scoresheet twice within two minutes when she followed up to score from Madison Perry’s shot before the game was put to bed after Wellings picked out the bottom corner from 25 yards.
Wellings had the opportunity to sew up her hat-trick, but was denied by a strong save from the keeper.
Manager Liam Gilbert was please with his team’s performance ast they managed to avoid what would have been a shock exit with a comfortable clean sheet win.
“Winning and a clean sheet will do for me,” said Gilbert.
“There were some very good moments, the goals we scored, nice phases of play and the way we went from back to front. It’s really positive.
“I also want to say well done to Cheltenham, they gave us a good game and threw everything they had at us and made us really work for our result.
“Our early goals helped us settle, as you see it many times about the longer the games go without a goal, frustration and nerves can creep in. So fair play for the girls for going about their jobs professionally.
“I love the way we approached the game, and everyone who featured got some great minutes to go into a really busy week.
“Now it’s onto the next one, but we’ll take the time to celebrate the wins, as it’s important to recognise what we’ve done well.
“So we’ll embrace this feeling right now, and then tomorrow we begin looking ahead to Wednesday.”
