“As a mother you try to give your child the best you can,” says the Hednesford Town forward Hazzana Parnell before the tier-five side’s Women’s FA Cup second-round match against third-tier Sporting Khalsa on Sunday. “The ball will be on the line and I’ll lay it back for her, as if saying: ‘Go on, you have it.’”
This isn’t like letting your kid beat you at Uno, or half-hearted efforts to save the ball when standing in goal at the local park. This is a mother, Parnell, 38, and her daughter, 16-year-old Remaya Osbourne, playing on the same team in the FA Cup, fulfilling a dream many footballers probably have when they hold their newborn in their arms, and that so few have achieved, in men’s and women’s football.
