The Royals would take a break from league action as they travel to The Valley Stadium to take on West Brom in the County Cup

Coming off the back of back-to-back losses to Loughborough, it was always going to be a tough task travelling to a Northern Premier Division side; however, it was a task that interim manager Lauren Whittington and her side would welcome

It was a different look side to what we have seen in previous weeks, an injury in the warmup would see Chloe Evans start in between the sticks

Royals XI: Evans, Sutton, Bruton, Forbes, Da’Casto, Deasy, Worth ©, Jackson, Gibbs, Owen, Hopwood

Changes: Bevan ’45, Lampitt ’60, Cassidy ’60, Price ’60

It was the hosts who would dominate for the opening stages as the Royals backline would take on the task of keeping the step three side quiet

The Baggies wouldn’t take long to open the scoring on home soil as Simran Jhamat would play through Ali Miller, who made no mistake in slotting it past stand-in keeper Chloe Evans

The Royals responded almost instantly as Phoebe Hopwood battled well to level the scoring

Albion kept Sutton under pressure following this before Evans came to deal with a cross from Hannah George, but her mistake gave Ellie May the chance to regain the lead

Sutton almost recreated their fast response a few moments prior, but Anna Miller would get a hand to a Liv Owen shot

Albion would now take their turn to attack as May played a great ball over to Miller, but Evans would make a great block to keep the difference to one

The Royals continued to endure Albion’s pressure, as Hayleigh Sutton was forced to make a goal-line clearance

It would now be Sutton’s turn to attack as Niamh Deasy and goal scorer Hopwood would link up well, causing the host’s defence some problems

The pick of the chances was Hopwood’s strike that hit the post

The move started with a great ball down the line from Ell Bruton, which found Sutton, who found Hopwood

Just before the break, Sutton midfielder Ell Bruton would go down injured, requiring medical assistance before Abby Bevan made her way onto the field

The first half saw many positives from the Royals, who would look to level the scoring in the second half. However, Albion would just edge it in the first half as they went in 2-1 up

It was Sutton who would start the better in the second half as they looked for the equaliser

The pick of their opportunities would be Deasy’s cross, which skimmed the bar, it would start with some nice build-up play between Bevan, Hopwood and Deasy, who would look for Lauren Da’Casto in the box but instead would come close to scoring herself

West Brom would take back control before getting their third as Miller grabbed her second thanks to some nice football

Albion would regain control following this as moments later, Jhamat would add a fourth for the home side

It would be the home side who would largely control the closing moments in the game, adding another three to their tally

The fifth goal came from an unfortunate deflection off one of the Sutton backline

Fran Orthodoxou would add the sixth as she loops a header over the head of Evans

Rhianne Oakley would grab Albion’s seventh and final goal of the afternoon as she drills her shot past Evans

The Royals exit the County Cup as they look ahead at a week off followed by a visit from Leafield

Match Report by Will Pritchard