Whitehouse's penalty masterclass sends Charlton into WSL
When goalkeeper Sophie Whitehouse walked into the media room, wearing glitter, heart-shaped sunglasses with "SW#1" written on them, her manager Karen Hills had one phrase. Charlton's number one was exactly that as her heroics helped secure the club a spot in the Women's Super League for the first time in their history. It was the first-ever play-off tie, with second-tier side Charlton coming up against the WSL's bottom club Leicester City and it went to the wire, needing a penalty shootout to separate the teams.
Having made stunning saves during the previous 120 minutes, it was no surprise to see Whitehouse produce four stops in the shootout. When she dived to her bottom left to save Noemie Mouchon's deciding penalty - the area she had marked on her water bottle in preparation - her team-mates sprinted across the pitch in celebration as a roar erupted from The Valley stands. Charlton had made it and Whitehouse was, as Hills said, the 'star of the show'.
"I don't even know what to say. It was the craziest thing ever. I just thought 'I need to save it' and that's what I did I guess," Whitehouse told BBC Sport.
"We pushed to the last minute and to the end of the game. Those are the moments I've been working for. "We've been practising penalties for weeks and once it got to that moment, I knew we could do it.
" Charlton promoted to WSL after win against Leicester on penalties Sophie Whitehouse won the WSL 2 Golden Glove award If the previous 120 minutes had felt lacklustre, despite stunning saves from Whitehouse to deny Shannon O'Brien and Ashleigh Neville, the shootout was far from it and turned into a chaotic few moments. With each Whitehouse save, chants roared from the home fans and manager Hills was jumping in the air, barely able to contain her anxiety. At one point, Whitehouse's precious bottle - full of instructions drawn onto it - was thrown into the stands, only to be retrieved by a member of Charlton's staff, later revealed to be called Billy.