Debut delight at the double for Crawley Wasps

Chanelle Gainsford celebrating her goal / Picture: James Boyes

Two players scored on their first-team debuts as Crawley Wasps eased into the semi-finals of the Sussex Women’s Challenge Cup on Friday night.

Wasps youth graduate Chanelle Gainsford, 18, and former Chichester forward Ami Martins were both on target in a 4-1 win over a young Lewes development squad.

Lottie Turner, 18, was also handed a senior debut, giving a good account of herself as she partnered experienced club captain Naomi Cole in midfield.

But it was fellow teenager Gainsford who earned the plaudits, picking up the Skin:genius player of the match award following a goal and a solid defensive display alongside first-teamer Ellie Russell at centre-back.

Ami Martins, Chanelle Gainsford and Lottie Turner, who all made their first-team debuts

Wasps were expected to advance against Lewes’s youthful second string and, after former Wales international Emma Plewa had seen a shot saved and Cole had nodded wide, Gainsford struck the opener on 17 minutes, reacting quickest to net the rebound after her initial header, from Rachel Palmer’s corner, had been parried.

Plewa made it 2-0 shortly afterwards after good work from Turner and Immy Lancaster, before the Rookettes pulled one back through Skye Bacon as she fired in from the edge of the box.

Cole then missed by inches as she attempted an audacious shot from the resulting kick-off, before Russell touched in the skipper’s corner just before half time.