A team from Martinique face a painful 4,000-mile journey home after crashing 12-0 at Ligue 1 side Lille in the Coupe de France on Saturday.

Golden Lion qualified for the tournament as reigning champions of the Caribbean nation, and were handed a daunting away trip to the six-time winners.

They were 7-0 down at half-time and mustered a single shot in comparison to 37 for the hosts, for whom Jonathan David and Edon Zhegrova helped themselves to hat-tricks.

The Coupe de France has been open to representatives of French departments and territories since the mid-1960s, and one-sided results are nothing new.

Golden Lion can seek solace in the fact that they performed better – and faced a shorter round trip – than French Guiana side CSC Cayenne, who were thumped 14-0 at Paris FC in 2021.

Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl was grateful to Cameron Dawson after the goalkeeper’s penalty-saving heroics helped seal a 4-0 FA Cup win against Cardiff.

Dawson kept out quickfire spot-kicks from Cardiff skipper Ryan Wintle and Callum Robinson inside the opening seven minutes after Josh Windass had given Wednesday a second-minute lead.

The Owls keeper was in inspired form for his hometown club, pulling off a string of further saves to keep Cardiff at bay, while Romaine Sawyers’ own goal and Liam Palmer’s stunning volley put the Owls 3-0 up at half-time.

Cardiff were made to pay for a long list of squandered chances in either half and Owls substitute Mallik Wilks completed the scoring in added time.

Rohl said: “Cameron has shown in the past that he is there. Today he has saved two penalties, it was great.

“I always protect my players and in the past when there were some mistakes – I think today he showed he is ready.

“It was a performance everyone will speak about, but we won’t speak about individuals, it was just the team. The team did the job we have to do and that’s it.”

The Owls are enjoying a mini-revival under Rohl, who became the English Football League’s youngest manager when appointed as Xisco Munoz’s replacement in October.

This latest win was their sixth in nine games in all competitions and the 34-year-old German, who left out Barry Bannan and Bailey Cadamarteri, was delighted his side maintained their momentum.

“For sure, it was for me clear,” he said. “You always think after this tough period maybe some players need a rest.

“For me, it was about whether there was a risk and if there was we wouldn’t risk to play with some players.

“But my team did well for the result. It was OK, next round. Now it’s about keeping going, recovery and I’ve always spoken about the momentum. I want to keep this.”

Cardiff made six changes following their 2-1 win at QPR on New Year’s Day and in the absence of manager Erol Bulut, who had stayed at home due to illness, assistant Nikolaos Karydas was philosophical in defeat.

“Disappointed I cannot say because the result sometimes does not reflect the performance of the team,” Karydas said.

“We saw many positive things, especially in the second half. I cannot say as an excuse we missed a lot of players.”

On his side’s two missed penalties and a glut of other spurned chances, he added: “In football, you can expect anything. Even this is a part of the game.

“Maybe if we had scored the result would be opposite, but we have to accept it now and look forward to the next game.

“In football if you don’t score, you lose the game. You have to score. But we’ll say we are satisfied by the pictures that the players showed.”

Mauricio Pochettino praised Armando Broja as one of the most promising young strikers in Europe after his goal helped Chelsea to a 4-0 FA Cup third-round win over Preston.

The 22-year-old started in place of Nicolas Jackson, who is away at the Africa Cup of Nations, and netted his team’s opening goal early in the second half at Stamford Bridge.

Preston had done a fine job in the first period of containing Chelsea, who lacked cutting edge to go with their domination of the ball, but Broja’s strike was the first of three in an 11-minute spell in the second half.

Will Keane was hounded off the ball inside his own box by Mykhailo Mudryk, who laid it back for Malo Gusto to cross and Broja headed in.

Thiago Silva then nodded in a second before Raheem Sterling quickly lashed a free-kick beyond goalkeeper Freddie Woodman.

Enzo Fernandez knocked in a fourth near the end as the gulf to Ryan Lowe’s side – 14th in the Championship – finally showed.

Pochettino praised the contribution of Broja, who returned to fitness in September after nine months out with an ACL injury, and hinted there is more to come from the Albanian striker.

“It was really important for him,” he said. “I need to be honest, he needs to use this type of game to score and to feel the net and to improve. Improve not only in his fitness but his body language also. He needs to step up and to go forward and to move. He needs to smile more and be more positive.

“The potential is amazing. We’re talking about one of the young strikers in England and in Europe with most potential. But the problem now is he needs to push himself, and we’re going to try to help him to realise that never it is enough.

“He was nearly one year away (injured) and of course now he needs time. It’s not easy for him to perform and to be at the level we expect. Our expectation is massive and we really believe in him. We’re going to push him to improve every day.

“I said to him smile. Always we joke about how he needs to smile, to laugh, to put inside himself more good energy and be more happy, a happy boy.”

Preston boss Lowe reflected on a game that got away from his side in the second half after a promising start.

“The three goals in (11) minutes really hurt us,” he said. “I think for large parts of that game, before the 58th minute when they scored, we were fantastic.

“It is disappointing to lose and I don’t think the result reflects the performance, but the fact is they have good quality players who can put the ball in the back of the net.

“I thought our lads were excellent. They gave it their all and that’s the biggest thing I am pleased about.”

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery hailed his side’s mentality as they beat Middlesbrough 1-0 in their third-round FA Cup clash at the Riverside.

The Premier League high-flyers reached the fourth round thanks to Matty Cash’s deflected winner in the 87th minute.

Villa had chances in the first half from Jhon Duran and Leander Dendoncker before threatening in the first 15 minutes of the second half as John McGinn, Ezri Konsa and Alex Moreno all came close from a succession of corners.

Cash eventually sent them through to the next round from a short corner in the final stages and Emery praised the maturity in his team to push for the winner.

“We played big passions, being mature, I think we are growing up our mentality in matches like that,” Emery said.

“At the beginning we were favourite to win, but difficult to face each match.

“They prepared and tactically they played a very good match and even when they were keeping more possession on the transition they threatened us.

“We were always in control of the game and even the 15 minute, 20 minutes in the second half they were in that moment in control of the game better than us, after we had the three chances in the first 15 minutes of the second half.

“We were being passionate and trying to keep in our mind our gameplan and after that moment we reacted again, we pushed in the last minute because we took two or three chances and we scored one of them.”

Villa were dumped out of the FA Cup by Stevenage in the third round last season, and Emery revealed his side had spoken about their history of the competition ahead of the Boro clash.

“We were speaking before the match about the FA Cup, a very historic cup competition, maybe the best cup competition in the world,” Emery added.

“We’re speaking about our players, how much they were successful in this competition – not a lot! Only Emiliano (Martinez) and Calum Chambers won with Arsenal.

“A long time Aston Villa was successful in this competition with seven titles.

“Of course we are here trying to do another step ahead in this club, trying to play facing different competition and trying to be contending to get something.”

Carabao Cup semi-finalists Middlesbrough missed out on another cup run, but still had their opportunities in the game as Alex Bangura created some good chances and Morgan Rogers tested Martinez.

Cash’s late strike came as a cruel blow to Michael Carrick’s side, who had defended well throughout, but the Boro boss was “so proud” of their performance.

He said: “I thought the whole game, to be honest, was good. Really happy with them at half-time.

“They had a little bit more of the game in some ways second half, but I thought in general in the circumstances against the team we were playing against, I thought they were fantastic, the lads, I’m so proud of them.

“Tactically they were spot on in terms of their discipline, concentration, we played some good football at times to play that pressure and we probably had more opportunities to create chances than actually the chances themselves but we definitely looked dangerous enough in the game.

“Disappointed not to get anything from it really.”

New Swansea manager Luke Williams was satisfied with his side’s 2-0 FA Cup third round win against Morecambe.

Second-half goals from Charlie Patino and Jerry Yates saw the Sky Bet Championship club into the fourth round despite a somewhat laboured performance.

Williams was only unveiled two days ago, joining from League Two Notts County after the Swans hierarchy took more than a month to appoint a successor to sacked Michael Duff.

Williams said: “There were some positives with things that I saw from the short amount of time I have worked with the players.

“There were also some things that I saw they struggled to implement, not because anyone isn’t good enough, just because there are a lot of small changes that take time.

“We will look at the game back and show the players what we want.

“We created enough chances to have scored a few more and the clean sheet was not an accident because we prevented the opposition from having a shot on target.”

Williams heaped praise on assistant Alan Sheehan for his work as caretaker boss since Duff’s departure.

He added: “I had conversation with Alan and asked him where he was at with the preparation.

“He suggested a very sensible team in terms of giving the correct amount of minutes to certain players.

“Alan has been incredible. He put the team in a great place when it could have been in a terrible place when I arrived.

“But I came in and he had got everybody in a good place and had a grasp on everything. I am very fortunate he did so much. He is a great guy.”

Williams, 42, who began his career in coaching at Swindon, appeared relieved to have come through the assignment against a side 49 places below Swansea in the Football League.

“They are competitive in League Two, they are strong and have experienced players,” he said.

“Looking at the statistics of the game, it looks like the way I want to play. We dominated the game, put the ball into the box a lot and created chances.

“Can we now do that cleaner, better, sharper, more accurately in league games? I hope so.”

Goalscorer Patino, meanwhile, was singled out for praise by his new boss.

“I said to Charlie at half-time he is an attacking midfielder and he has to create and score goals, not just be in the middle of the pitch,” said Williams.

“In the final third, an attacking midfielder is a killer. The longer it went with us not scoring, the more vulnerable we were.

“He then went back out and did exactly what I wanted by scoring the goal.

“After that we moved the ball correctly and saw the game out.”

Swansea eased their way into the FA Cup fourth round with a 2-0 win against Sky Bet League Two strugglers Morecambe.

Second-half goals from midfielders Charlie Patino and Jerry Yates saw the Sky Bet Championship side safely into the hat and secured victory in new manager Luke Williams’ opening match in charge.

While Swansea were never seriously troubled, they were laboured at times and made harder work of the win than Williams would have liked.

But the 42-year-old, who had a spell at Swansea as assistant under former boss Russell Martin before leaving to guide Notts County back into the Football League, will be relieved there was no cup slip-up.

Williams, brought in as replacement for the sacked Michael Duff after a recruitment process that dragged on over a month, was introduced to the crowd before kick-off.

There was warmth and tangible optimism in the reception he received but Williams has a considerable revival job on his hands, with the Swans well off the Championship play-offs pace in 16th position.

He opted to make 11 changes to the side which began the last league outing – a 1-0 win against West Brom.

But with the likes of captain Joe Allen, defenders Nathan Wood and Kyle Naughton and midfielders Charlie Patino and Ollie Cooper, there was no shortage of recognised first-choice players in the starting line-up.

It was no surprise the Swans monopolised possession from the first whistle, but their failure to seriously threaten the Morecambe goal frustrated home fans.

A deflected effort from midfielder Azeem Abdulai that fizzed just wide in the sixth minute looked like a sign of things to come.

Arsenal-loanee Patino forced Shrimps goalkeeper Adam Smith to tip his header over the crossbar in the 14th minute after left wiger Yannick Bolassie nodded across goal.

The impressive Bolasie went close eight minutes before the interval when his fierce effort from range narrowly cleared the bar.

But Swansea were thwarted for long spells by a well-drilled and disciplined Morecambe side content to limit their ambition to sporadic counter-attacks.

The pattern did not last long after the interval.

Just two minutes after the restart Patino made the breakthrough, ghosting in at the far post unmarked to side-foot volley a cross by Sam Parker underneath the body of Smith for the opener.

Morecambe did exert some pressure as the match entered its closing stages, but failed to create a single clearcut chance to equalise.

Their challenge was extinguished in the 87th minute when Yates found space on the edge of the 18-yard box and sent a low left-footed shot into the bottom corner of Smith’s net.

Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Cameron Dawson saved two penalties inside the opening seven minutes in his side’s 4-0 FA Cup win against Cardiff.

Josh Windass fired the Owls ahead in the second minute in a whirlwind start to this third-round tie at Hillsborough before Dawson kept out quickfire spot-kicks from Ryan Wintle and Callum Robinson.

The 28-year-old keeper was in inspired form for his hometown club, pulling off a string of further saves to keep Cardiff at bay, while Romaine Sawyers’ own goal and Liam Palmer’s stunning volley put the Owls 3-0 up at half-time.

Cardiff squandered a long list of second-half chances and Owls substitute Mallik Wilks completed the scoring in added time.

The Owls, still in the bottom three, but enjoying a mini-revival after winning five of their last eight league matches, took the lead in the second minute.

Windass received a pass from Palmer outside the penalty area and arrowed a superb shot into Cardiff goalkeeper Jak Alnwick’s bottom right-hand corner.

Within the space of the next five minutes, Cardiff twice squandered chances to draw level from the spot to the delight of the home fans in a sparse 10,955-crowd.

Dawson saved Wintle’s fourth-minute penalty with an outstretched hand after Anthony Musaba’s foul on Andy Rinomhota.

The Bluebirds were then awarded another penalty by referee Thomas Kirk three minutes later when Kion Etete went down under Michael Ihiekwe’s challenge and this time Dawson flung himself to the left to keep out Robinson’s effort.

Cardiff spurned further first-half chances as Josh Bowler fired narrowly wide and Rubin Colwill had two efforts saved by Cameron and another blocked.

Wednesday doubled their lead in the 38th minute when Ihiekwe beat Alnwick to a corner and his thumping header was deflected in off Sawyers.

The Owls appeared to have put the tie to bed two minutes later with their third goal as Palmer chested down Ollie Tanner’s poor clearance on the edge of the box and dispatched a fine volley inside the far post.

In an end-to-end first half, there was still time for Wednesday’s Momo Diaby to crash a 30-yard shot inches wide and for Dawson to deny Robinson and Etete with two more impressive saves in quick succession.

Cardiff continued to create chances after the break, with Rubin Colwill, Robinson and Tanner narrowly missing the target.

Wilks forced Alnwick to save before further missed Cardiff chances from Robinson, substitute Cian Ashford and Perry Ng summed up the visitors’ evening.

Dawson spilled Bowler’s shot, only for the ball to spin back into the goalkeeper’s arms off the goal-line before Wilks raced clear to score the Owls’ fourth in the closing stages.

Chelsea scored three times in 11 second-half minutes to ease into the fourth round of the FA Cup with a 4-0 win over Preston at Stamford Bridge.

A frustrating showing from Mauricio Pochettino’s side, in which they hogged the ball throughout the first half but carved few openings, burst to life 13 minutes after the break with Armando Broja heading in his second goal of the season from Malo Gusto’s cross.

That was followed by two in rapid succession, first from substitute Thiago Silva, who nodded in from Cole Palmer’s corner, then another when Raheem Sterling whacked a free-kick beyond the dive of goalkeeper Freddie Woodman, as Preston’s accomplished first-half defensive showing faded into memory.

Enzo Fernandez tapped in right at the end from a yard out, a final reminder of the gulf to Ryan Lowe’s side who are 14th in the Championship.

Sterling had had the game’s first chance, shooting towards Woodman’s top corner after 17 minutes, his effort turned behind at the near post. Moments later Palmer should have opened the scoring when he beat the Preston offside trap from Mykhailo Mudryk’s lofted pass and tried to lift the ball into the goal, but saw his dinked attempt drop inches wide.

Preston contained Chelsea well for the opening half-hour and carved an opening of their own, Milutin Osmajic darting into the box from a headed flick-on and attempting a finish across Djordje Petrovic, though it was light work for the goalkeeper to drop to his right and save. Will Keane’s scuffed shot from the edge of the box was fielded with similar ease.

Fernandez might have done better when he flung his head at Sterling’s deflected cross, in the end an easy catch for Woodman as a frustrating first half stubbornly failed to ignite.

Pochettino named a near full-strength side, the only surprise a first senior start at right-back for academy graduate Alfie Gilchrist. The 20-year-old acquitted himself well, willing to show for the ball and a composed defensive presence, but his teammates on the whole delivered as drab and uninspiring a 45 minutes as home supporters have witnessed this season.

Much of Chelsea’s problem under Pochettino has stemmed from players being too static when in possession, rendering attacking moves easy to anticipate for opposition defenders. Here in the first half, Palmer and Fernandez showed themselves again to be excellent passers of the ball, but with too little movement the play became predictable.

It was not a surprise then that the opening goal came from a Preston mistake. Keane was caught in possession inside his own penalty area, and the lively Mudryk hounded him off the ball. He knocked it back to Gusto, who whipped in a superb cross met by the head of Broja, stealing in ahead of Liam Lindsay to glance it into the far corner to the home fans’ audible relief.

Broja might and perhaps ought to have made it two, meeting Mudryk’s ball in and directing a near identical header an inch over Woodman’s crossbar, as Chelsea finally asserted their superior class.

A second goal though was not long in coming. No sooner had Silva emerged from the bench to an uproarious ovation from around the ground than he headed in for 2-0, rising unchallenged to thump Palmer’s header in at the near post.

Sterling’s goal to make it three was a peach, curling a free-kick into the top corner after Palmer was felled on the edge of the box, before a ludicrously drawn out VAR check confirmed a fourth from Fernandez at the end.

Matty Cash’s late winner saw Aston Villa progress to the fourth round of the FA Cup as they beat Middlesbrough 1-0.

Carabao Cup semi-finalists Boro were denied another cup run when Cash’s deflected strike found the bottom corner in the 87th minute.

The Premier League side had threatened from corners in the second half and a set-piece ultimately proved to be Boro’s undoing as Unai Emery’s side prevailed.

The first chance of the contest fell to Villa when Boubacar Kamara flicked the ball to Jhon Duran, who cut in from the left and fired towards the bottom corner but goalkeeper Tom Glover stuck out a leg to turn the ball behind.

The visitors grew into the game and Alex Moreno caused problems with some dangerous crosses, one finding Cash who smashed the ball into the crowded Boro box.

Alex Bangura tried to catch Villa on the break with some good balls through to Josh Coburn and posed a threat after latching on to a great cross-field ball, but Villa were able to clear.

The game suddenly sprung into life in the 32nd minute when Jacob Ramsey’s powerful shot was deflected over the bar and Leander Dendoncker narrowly headed over from the resulting corner.

Duran then forced a great save from Glover and Boro raced up the other end of the pitch as Dan Barlaser threaded the ball to Morgan Rogers, but Emiliano Martinez managed to palm it away for a corner.

The hosts had a great chance just on the cusp of half-time as Bangura fired a dangerous cross across the box, but neither Coburn nor Isaiah Jones could stab home.

A frenetic opening to the second half saw Glover make a fantastic save just four minutes in as a short corner allowed John McGinn to unleash a powerful strike on the edge of the box, but the goalkeeper tipped the ball over the crossbar.

Villa threatened again from corners in the 52nd minute as Ezri Konsa’s header smashed off the inside of the far post and another set-piece one minute later saw Moreno blast the ball over the bar from close range.

They had a penalty shout waved away when Moreno went down in the box and Boro began to threaten at the other end as Clement Lenglet made a fantastic slide to deny Jones’ cross.

The Villa defence were forced to clear a number of balls fired into the box and manager Emery responded with a quadruple change in the 70th minute, bringing on Ollie Watkins, Moussa Diaby, Douglas Luiz and Nicolo Zaniolo.

Emmanuel Latte Lath did well to flick Douglas Luiz’s free-kick behind and the Boro forward was soon involved at the other end of the pitch as Martinez smothered his run from the left.

Diaby had a great chance in the Boro box but scuffed his shot before Martinez was called into action again to hold Rogers’ cross.

Villa struck in the 87th minute as another short corner fell to Cash outside the box and his effort took a deflection off Latte Lath to beat Glover and send Villa through.

Goals from Daley Blind and Yan Couto fired Girona into the last 16 of the Copa del Rey with a 2-0 win away to Segunda Division Elche.

Blind and Couto scored in either half for the LaLiga title challengers but Elche, 12th in Spain’s second tier, had a total of 22 attempts on goal without finding a way to beat visiting goalkeeper Juan Carlos.

Girona coach Michel made five changes from the side that beat Atletico Madrid 4-3 last time out, with match-winner Ivan Martin among those to keep their places.

Elche took the game to their high-flying opponents from the off, with John Donald, Mario Gaspar and Tete Morente all threatening in the early going.

Blind, also on the scoresheet against Atletico in midweek, dropped to the bench but was brought into the action on the half-hour mark after an injury to Eric Garcia, and within seven minutes the former Manchester United player was back among the goals.

Jhon Solis tried to turn Portu’s corner goalwards and the ball fell for Blind to finish from close range.

Elche returned for the second half seeming reinvigorated and again had a string of chances, as Gaspar, Nicolas Fernandez and Rodrigo Mendoza all had opportunities to bring them level.

But they were struggling to test the goalkeeper, all too often firing wide, and it was Girona who looked more likely to score as Valery Fernandez tested Miguel San Roman from a tight angle before Juanpe headed narrowly wide from a corner.

Morente forced a save from Juan Carlos in the 66th minute, and moments later Girona were 2-0 up as they went down to the other end where Couto fired in from the edge of the box.

A string of substitutions disrupted the flow of the game and it was Elche who finished on top, creating more opportunities for Fernandez, Josan and Nicolas Castro without being able to capitalise on any of them.

When Mendoza was denied by Juan Carlos from close range in the 81st minute there was a sense their best chance of getting back into the game had gone, and there was a late chance for Miguel Gutierrez to add a third for the visitors but his shot was saved.

Watford head coach Valerien Ismael was pleased at the second-half reaction from his side, as they spared their FA Cup blushes with a 2-1 win over Chesterfield.

A goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time from Tom Dele-Bashiru broke the hearts of the National League leaders, who would have felt they deserved at least a replay.

Watford won their first FA Cup third-round tie at home since 2018, and progressed to the fourth round for the first time since reaching the final in 2019.

But Ismael was content with avoiding having to go to the SMH Group Stadium for a replay.

He said “The main thing in the cup is always to come through, because nobody will talk about the actual game.

“We made the game complicated for ourselves, and credit to Chesterfield they played well with a nothing-to-lose mentality.

“In the first half I didn’t get the feeling we controlled anything, at half time I told them we had to come back in our mentality – to raise our standards.

“That is non-negotiable, to play to your standards. The second half was much better and it showed a good mentality to score in the last minute.

“We’ve overcome the challenge. I prefer to score in the last minute rather than have a rematch.”

Backed by close to 4000 supporters, Chesterfield almost conceded after five minutes when Yaser Asprilla intercepted a back pass from Branden Horton, but his effort was blocked by Ryheem Sheckleford.

Goalkeeper Ryan Boot was needed on 24 minutes when Ismael Kone found space to bear down on goal but saw his shot denied the shotstopper.

The National League side then stunned their hosts three minutes later. A cross from the byline by Sheckleford found the head of Joe Quigley, who directed a simple header into the net.

It could have been even better for the visitors less than forty seconds after the restart, when keeper Daniel Bachmann had to save from Ollie Banks, following a move involving Sheckleford.

After a triple substitution was made to change the fortunes of Watford, it was down to one of the replacements in Mileta Rajovic to finally unlock the Chesterfield back line.

His header from a cross by Yaser Asprilla on 76 minutes sent an audible sigh of relief around Vicarage Road.

Although Watford were by far the more energetic of the two sides, Chesterfield could have won with seven minutes remaining, when sub Ryan Colclough headed over from less than six yards out.

The game was settled deep into injury time when Dele-Bashiru struck low past Boot, to earn a victory that was possibly ill-deserved.

Chesterfield assistant manager Danny Webb admitted the late defeat was hurtful, but his focus quickly returned to his side getting back into the EFL for the first time since 2018

He said “It’s a kick in the teeth, but when we look at the other scores in the National League today, which is what our bread and butter is, getting out that division, they went for us.

“We’re six points clear at the top, we’ve had a cracking day out and we’ve taken a Championship side toe to toe. Their bit of quality came through at the end.

“The supporters will be a bit down and a bit gutted.

“When you come to these places, the notch goes up – there’s a bit more quality, they’re a bit fitter and quicker.

“I won’t say we outplayed Watford, but we gave them a good game.”

Jamaica and Manchester City superstar striker Khadija “Bunny” Shaw is one of six nominees for the Barclays Women’s Super League (WSL) Player of the Month award for December.

Shaw strengthened her position at the top of the division’s goalscoring chart with a hat-trick in Manchester City’s 4-1 success over Everton on December 17 in Merseyside.

The Jamaican shrugged off the disappointment of missing an early penalty to break the deadlock with a sublime chip over Courtney Brosnan.

She then added to her tally with a clinical low finish before heading home City’s fourth after the interval to finish the scoring.

Shaw is now the leading scorer in the WSL with nine goals in as many league games.

Also nominated for the award is Shaw’s City teammate Lauren Hemp who got a pair of goals in the team’s 2-1 win over Aston Villa on December 9.

Manchester United’s Ella Toone, Liverpool’s Taylor Hinds, Leicester City’s Lena Petermann and Tottenham Hotspur’s Barbora Votikova complete the nominees.

Stephen Clemence was proud of his Gillingham players despite going down 4-0 to the Premier League’s bottom side Sheffield United in the FA Cup.

Doubles from William Osula and James McAtee saw the Blades into the fourth round at the expense of their League Two opponents.

But the Gills gave as good as they got for large parts of the game and Clemence took heart from the performance.

“I’m proud of the boys, I’m proud of the way they applied themselves and proud of the way they tried to make an impact on the game,” said the Gillingham boss.

“At times we had to sit in and weather the storm, but when we did have the ball we tried to be positive. It’s very hard to work our patterns against a Premier League side, but on another day we’d have got a couple of goals.”

League Two’s least potent attack came close to opening the scoring when Conor Masterson beat his man and saw a goalbound shot blocked.

Oli Hawkins wasted a brilliant chance for the Gills when he miscued a first-half header and, at 2-0 down in the second half, skipper Max Ehmer’s effort struck the post.

“I never felt it was a 4-0, the boys are unlucky with that,” Clemence insisted. “If Max’s header goes in, the place would have erupted and it would have been a really interesting end to the game.

“But Premier League players don’t need many chances to score, and that’s one of the biggest differences playing against top teams. I’m disappointed with the goals we conceded – I wouldn’t want to concede them in a League Two game, I know that for sure.”

Osula’s opener came following a United break on 14 minutes, with his low effort going through the legs of Gills goalkeeper Jake Turner.

The Dane then capitalised on Turner’s poor parry from Femi Seriki’s shot to side-foot home for his second six minutes before half-time.

McAtee ended any doubts about the result on 83 minutes, as he beat the offside trap to meet Ollie Norwood’s pass and fire past the luckless Turner.

He completed the scoring with the best goal of the tie with three minutes remaining, blazing into the top corner from 20 yards after Gustavo Hamer’s short corner caught Gillingham napping.

The Blades, FA Cup semi-finalists last season, earned their first away win of the campaign in all competitions.

United manager Chris Wilder said: “We did a job, didn’t we? We knew they’d be spirited opponents and it was a great experience for our younger lads.

“Everybody in the world outside of Sheffield was expecting an upset today. We haven’t won a lot of games of football but this was a good afternoon’s work.

“Maybe it was a bit of kidology from me this week, but I always thought we’d do it. I know what these occasions are like; this is where you really get judged as a player. There weren’t any shortcuts in our approach to the game, and there weren’t any shortcuts on the pitch today.

“If we’d have let the crowd find their voice, we’d have felt their heat. But we never really allowed that, the way we kept the ball, the way we took our chances, and the way we defended when we had to.

“Winning is enjoyable for everybody today. I’m not going to be embarrassed about winning a game, I’m not going to be embarrassed for our reaction to it. We had to be good today and we were.”

Charlton manager Michael Appleton remains positive about his side’s fortunes going forward despite them conceding another late goal in a 3-3 draw at Port Vale.

The Addicks led on three occasions, through Corey Blackett-Taylor, Daniel Kanu and Tyreece Campbell, but goals from Ethan Chislett and Uche Ikpeazu were added to by Gavin Massey’s fantastic curling effort in the second minute of second-half stoppage time to earn Vale a point.

It comes on the back of conceding late goals in recent losses to Oxford, Bristol Rovers and Leyton Orient, as well as draws with Burton and Cambridge, amid a seven-match winless run in Sky Bet League One.

“There’s times when I just want to get myself on the pitch and deal with it,” Appleton said.

“But I think I mentioned it last week, and certainly I’ve mentioned it this week, we’ve got to keep putting ourselves in that position – that’s the most important thing.

“So when you’re on a run and got a spell like this, it’s dead easy to lose two, three-nil.

“When you don’t go ahead in a game or you concede the first goal, or allow the opposition to sort of get away from you, you think next week it’s not going happen.

“But the one thing the players are really good at is getting themselves in that position time and time again.

“Now ultimately, at some point, we’ve got to get over the line and we’ve got to see it out.

“But I’m a firm believer that if you do keep putting yourselves into that position, (and add) one or two maybe new faces et cetera to give everyone else a lift, that’ll happen.”

Port Vale boss Andy Crosby believes his team should have taken all three points, even though they had to come from behind three times to secure a share of the spoils.

“We should have won in my opinion,” he said.

“If we continue to do what we’re doing without the ball, we’re going to become a mid-table team that doesn’t achieve what it should do.

“When you give presents like we did away to a team like that, you’re not going to win games of football.

“We dominated the game, we’ve given chances away to the opposition and it’s just a present.

“We’ve had so many opportunities ourselves.”

Crosby’s side have moved up to 14th in the table, one place behind Charlton who they continue to trail only by goal difference.

He also reserved praise for Charlton goalkeeper Ashley Maynard-Brewer, who produced a number of excellent saves.

“Their keeper is the man of the match by an absolute mile,” Crosby added.

“We’ve scored three goals, we should have scored more.

“We’ve collected one point, we should have collected three.”

Plymouth’s new head coach Ian Foster expressed his delight at Argyle progressing to the FA Cup fourth round following a 3-1 home win over League Two strugglers Sutton.

Playmaker Morgan Whittaker took his tally to 14 goals with a stoppage-time strike and won a second-half penalty, converted by Ryan Hardie to make it 2-1 after Sutton striker Lee Angol had cancelled out Luke Cundle’s first-half opener.

Foster, appointed on Friday night, said: “It’s magical the FA Cup and I can’t wait to see who we get in the next round.

“For the majority I was pleased. I don’t think it was easy for the players having a new head coach walk into the building as late as I did. I thought they responded well to that.

“I just gave them a few messages around the game.

“The team were prepared really well in my absence but I just thought it was really important for me not to miss a wonderful opportunity to get on the touchline and be in and around the group today.

“I just made a couple of tactical nuances that I thought might help us and then just a couple of final messages around experiences of this type of game.

“The one thing I asked the players for was to play with a front-foot mentality. I wanted us to be aggressive without the ball, force errors.

“I wanted us to show control and patience in possession and recognise those opportunities to keep the ball, and fast attack when they are out of shape.

“It was nothing weird or wonderful, just adding something that I thought might be important.

“I was definitely able to impact from the side of the pitch.

“I’ve known Jason (Goodliffe) for a very long time and you have to win individual battles because they make it very hard for you.”

Interim Sutton boss Jason Goodliffe said: “We started a little bit slowly and the goal came at a difficult time but I was really pleased with the reaction after that.

“I thought by the end of the first half we started to show signs that we were capable of doing a bit more.

“The chat at half-time was telling them to believe a little bit more in what we could do going forward and we got ourselves a good goal and, at 1-1, I thought we were well in the game.

“We had some really good moments without necessarily being able to capitalise on those and the second goal comes out of nothing in terms of the penalty.

“Even then at 2-1, I still felt we were going to create something and have an opportunity but it didn’t quite fall for us unfortunately and I felt 3-1 at the end was a little bit harsh.

“The belief was coming into the players and particularly down the left hand side we had some really good moments, but just weren’t able to put it in the back of the net.

“There were times when the crowd were getting on the backs of Plymouth and it was quiet and it showed we were doing something right.

“Our fans were absolutely superb and didn’t stop singing all game. That really spurred us on in the second half playing towards them.

“Coming to a Championship team and leaving with a feeling of being hard done by shows how well the players have done.”