Lower-division Newark Town Ladies lost 8-0 to step 5 Chesterfield in the League Cup

Newark Town Ladies lost 8-0 at home to higher-league Chesterfield in the League Cup on Sunday.

The sides were two levels apart last season, with the Spireites finishing runners-up at Step 5, while Town won promotion from Step 7.

Newark were expecting a difficult day and so it proved as the visitors opened up a 6-0 lead by half-time.

Town had a player harshly sent off during the second half but rallied and restricted the visitors to two more goals, with goalkeeper Georgia Porter named player-of-the-match.

“It’s hard to put into words how good Chesterfield were,” said Newark manager Alvin Sheldon.

“They’re a very good team, with quality all over the pitch, and very experienced at Step 5.

“We were 6-0 down at half-time and just into the second half we had a player sent off for what we felt was an over-reaction from the referee.

“It wouldn’t have affected the scoreline but that seemed to galvanise us and we held it to two in the second half.

“We understood how tough it was going to be against this team. We were under no illusions at the task at hand.”

Newark face a similar challenge at the YMCA this Sunday (1.30pm) when they host another Step 5 club, Mansfield Town Ladies, in the County Cup second round.

“It’s another tough task,” said Sheldon. “We’re coming up against a team from Step 5, we’re new to Step 6, and it’s a massive jump between the levels, as you can see by the scorelines.”

Newark’s development team beat Keyworth United 4-0 thanks to Iayasha Langford’s double and goals from Polly Chandler and Levana Haggerty, while Skye Bennett took the player-of-the-match award.

They host Beeston Women at Devon Park on Sunday (2pm).