Forest felled as Albion progress in FA Cup

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Madison Haley's penalty and a late header by Jelena Cankovic seals 2-0 win and a place in the last 16.

Bruce Talbot

2026-01-18T15:00+00:00

Madison Haley celebrates after opening the scoring. 📷Paul Hazlewood

Albion are through to the last 16 of the Adobe FA Cup after a hard-earned but deserved win over their WSL2 visitors.

Madison Haley missed her last penalty in Albion’s WSL win over London City Lionesses last month but made no mistake in first-half stoppage time after Kiko Seike was brought down.

That gave Albion momentum after they had been frustrated for much of the first half and they played with much more intensity in the second half with Jelena Cankovic adding a deserved second in stoppage time with a close-range header.

Sixty-three per cent possession and 13 shots on target reflected Albion’s overall dominance but they struggled to break down organised and committed opponents in the first half.

Madison Haley tucks away the penalty that gave Albion the lead. 📷Paul Hazlewood

It took until the 37th minute before they seriously threatened when Nadine Noordam fired just wide of the far post after a good move on the right.

The breakthrough came in the second of eight minutes added on after Forest’s Aimee Claypole had to stretchered off.

Georgie Brougham’s mistimed challenge sent Seike to ground and Haley coolly sent Emily Batty the wrong way from the spot for her second goal of the season. Batty produced a fine save to push away Maisie Symonds’ shot as Albion ended the half strongly.

Albion stepped it up a gear in the second half, moving the ball more quickly and stretching Forest in wide areas. The chances came: Haley fired over, Symonds failed to seriously test Batty from a promising position and Rosa Kafaji’s inswinging corner bounced off the far post.

Jelena Cankovic celebrates after making it 2-0. 📷Paul Hazlewood

Forest unsurprisingly began to commit more players forward in the closing stages and Chiamaka Nnadozie had to be alert to keep out a powerful angled effort by Rachel Rowe from their only shot on target.

Albion finally put the tie to bed in stoppage time. Manu Vanegas met a corner with a powerful header which Batty parried out but only to Cankovic who headed in from a yard out.