Jodie Redgrave’s four SSE Women’s FA Cup goals might sound like a unique haul for most players – but not for the Brighouse Town forward.
On Sunday, December 18 Redgrave signed off from 2016 in style, bagging six goals in a 13-0 romp of Lower Hopton.
And she ensured she carried that form over into the New Year as Sunday, January 8 saw her score four goals, including a last-minute winner, in a dramatic 4-3 SSE Women’s FA Cup win at Derbyshire-based Long Eaton.
That performance saw the 24-year-old named SSE Women’s FA Cup player of the second round as she fired Brighouse into the third round of the competition for the first time in the club’s history, where they will face Everton on February 5.
And as the success continues to roll in for Redgrave the mercurial forward admits it is all taking some getting used to.
“My coach Rob Mitchell rang me up – I was actually in Asda – to tell me about the award and I just couldn’t stop laughing, I thought it was a joke,” the 24-year-old said.
“We were laughing down the phone because we didn’t think Brighouse Town would get that far anyway in the SSE Women’s FA Cup, let alone anything else.
“But it’s great, not just for the club but also for me to get the award.
“It’s not really sunk in – I said to my friend that I got player of the round, and she said ‘what, of the whole round? You crafty devil’.
“We celebrated big after Long Eaton. It was almost like it was our cup final. In the game we all wanted to win, but it wasn’t until the end of the game where it sunk in that we got through to the third round.
“We said straight after ‘imagine if we got Everton’, and then it happened! And it is at our place.
“I think anything can happen. One lucky strike can go in. We’re a bunch of warriors and we won’t give in.”
Redgrave arrived at Northern Division One side Brighouse from Bradford City last season as a left-back, before Mitchell realised her ability and pushed her up front, giving her a free role to orchestrate the side’s attacks.
And her scoring record in recent weeks and throughout the season is hardly surprising with Redgrave claiming to have averaged ‘about 60 a season’ in her younger days.
Despite being a former Manchester United junior, she also admits to modelling her game on Manchester City and Argentina striker Sergio Aguero – however she feels there is more to her game than just scoring goals.
“I’ve not got the height of Peter Crouch and I’m not a massive unit, so it’s about more being tactical and more aware,” added Redgrave, a research assistant at Leeds Beckett University.
“I like the magician balls, I like to play people in and I think I’ve got good awareness. Rob just gives me a free role.
“He says ‘you’re a bit of a false nine, just do what you want’.”
Tickets are now on sale for the SSE Women’s FA Cup Final on Saturday, May 13 at Wembley Stadium connected by EE. For the second consecutive year, kids go free to the final, tickets can be purchased here: https://ticketing.thefa.com/
Featured image courtesy of Roberto Payne/Sportsbeat, with thanks
