TEENAGE girl footballers based at Ivybridge Community College were thwarted in their attempts to progress in the FA Girls' Centre of Excellence U17 National Cup by Arsenal U17s last weekend. The Devon FA Girls' Centre of Excellence U17s team, who are based at the college, were beaten 4-1 at Coach Road, Newton Abbot in the second round of the competition.

Seven girls in the Devon squad, namely Jodie Chubb, Alex Hugh, Megan Kowalski, Nicky Lipscombe, Georgie Talbot, Mollie Taylor and Cait O'Keefe, are also schooled at ICC. Arsenal had already knocked out Hampshire FA in the first round with a 7-0 thrashing, so this was always going to be a tough fixture for Devon, who themselves had an impressive 2-1 victory at previously unbeaten Colchester United in round one.

However, it was the underdogs who took the lead 20 minutes in as Devon's Georgie Talbot charged down the Arsenal goalkeeper's clearance to see the ball loop back in to the net. Devon managed to hold on until just before half-time when Arsenal's Shadai Miller struck to even things up at 1-1 going into the break. Arsenal showed their class to go on to score three more in the second half, with Miller adding her second and further goals from Emily Auld and Billie Brooks. There were outstanding performances from Devon's captain Jodie Chubb and goalkeeper Nicky Lipscombe.

The Devon FA would like to thank the 250 in attendance who showed great support for the girls.