The Bees secured a bonus-point victory as they beat Charlton Athletic 4-2 on penalties following a goalless draw at The Hive London.
The Addicks enjoyed large spells of the game, but couldn’t find their way past a resilient Bees defence, backed up by a great individual performance by Megen Lynch in between the sticks.
The visitors dominated the early stages of the game, as Ellie Dorey forced home debutant Megen Lynch into an early stop.
The pressure continued throughout the half as Charlie Devlin had a couple of efforts that whistled over Lynch’s goal.
Charlton’s best effort was superbly cleared off the line by Hayley West after the midfielder had rounded Lynch. West was at it again moments later as she put in a brilliant tackle as the visitors broke into the Bees box.
The Bees defended resolutely in the first half against a side who had several key players return from injury, on a damp afternoon in North London.
Lynch’s final act of the half was to get down to save yet again from Devlin as she fired a strike towards the corner as the teams headed to dressing rooms goalless.
Into the second half and just after the hour mark Merrick Will was a shown a red card for a second bookable offence, it was a sucker punch for the Bees after they started the second half well.
The visitors then piled on immense pressure throughout the game, but the Bees stood firm to keep themselves in with a chance of taking the game to penalties.
Devlin rattled the crossbar with five minutes left to play, as everyone in The Hive’s nerves started to jangle with the prospect of penalties looming large.
A succession of set-pieces then followed in injury time but to a player, the Bees gave their absolute everything to make sure they would take at least a point from their London rivals.
Penalties then followed as Horwood, Pickett, Devlin, and Newborough scored their respective kicks to make the score two goals apiece.
Nikita Whinnett stepped up next but agonisingly saw her spot-kick strike the post, but she was reprieved as Megen Lynch saved brilliantly from Wilson to keep us level.
Alexander scored our fourth kick, before player of the match Lynch made a heroic, stupendous stop from Griffiths kick to leave Georgia Robert the chance to win the game.
Our number five stepped up and converted to give Lee Burch’s side an extra bonus point and to secure yet another London derby victory in the Conti Cup.
The Bees return to league action in two weeks’ time as they make the long trip to Durham in FA Women’s Championship action.