The weather has played havoc with the women's football fixtures recently, but the Royals returned to competitive action with an FA Cup clash against Aston Villa.

And what a game it was! Frank Rodriguez's side had the better of first half and should have gone in front on a number of occasions to take a lead into the break.

But after the interval the game turned on its head and Villa dominated the second half.

An injury to goalkeeper Grace Maloney meant the Royals had to throw Michelle Beazley into the deep end but Beazley's heroics kept the game goalless.

Her first touch forced her to flick and excellent effort over her crossbar and a number of other fine saves kept Reading Women in the tie.

0-0 after ninety minutes, the game went to extra time and the Royals found their second wind. Stacey Donnelly slid a great pass into Natasha Caswell for Reading's best effort of the game - Caswell smashing a 25-yard bullet towards the top corner to give the Royals a 1-0 advantage.

And as extra time played out the Royals were looking comfortable, absorbing what pressure Villa mounted without panicking.

But in the final minute, Villa launched a speculative 40 yard free kick into a crowded box and Beazley was impeded coming to collect amidst a host of bodies. No foul was given by the referee and the ball dropped loose for a Villa leg to stab home.

And so to penalties and after five each the scores stood at 4-4. Skipper Kelly Chambers stepped up as the first to strike in sudden death and, although her first penalty was saved but retaken because the goalkeeper had come off her line, Chambers only managed to clatter the crossbar with her re-take.

Villa duly punished Reading with a coolly slotted spotkick to win it and the Royals' FA Cup run ended in heart-breaking Fourth Round defeat.

"I'm thoroughly disappointed with result, especially as we were so close to winning the game," Women's Director of Football Lee Herron said.

"But looking at the bigger picture, the girls showed great character to take the game to extra time when under a lot of pressure.

"Our girls hadn't played competitively for a long, long time, whereas Villa had - so we showed great commitment and desire to take the tie so far.

"That performance is sure to stand us in good stead for our league run-in and there are a lot of positives to take."

The Royals still sit in second in the league behind division leaders Barnet, but first they have a County Cup tie to complete this weekend.