Chelsea thrash Birmingham to reach Women’s FA Cup semi-finals

By

Bethany England scored twice as Chelsea thrashed Birmingham 5-0 to reach the semi-finals of the Women’s FA Cup.

Magdalena Eriksson’s header came right at the end of a first half that saw Chelsea dominate, with Drew Spence, England and Niamh Charles settling affairs after the break.

The win puts manager Emma Hayes on course for her fourth FA Cup, while Birmingham have dropped out of a tournament that has been a reprieve from one league win in 16 months.

City were pinned in their half from the whistle, and the hosts should have been ahead when Ji So-Yun came within inches of England’s cross-goal shot that proved a fraction wide.

The visitors’ resistance took them within a minute of a goalless half-time, but set pieces were once again the undoing of Darren Carter’s side as an unmarked Eriksson powered England’s cross into the net.

Drew Spence doubled Chelsea’s advantage 15 minutes after the interval, slotting Niamh Charles’s pass into the bottom corner with the Birmingham defence increasingly stretched.

It was England’s turn next as the hosts moved through the gears, a selfless Spence backheeling the ball in the face of an onrushing keeper in the 62nd minute, allowing England to fire into an open net.

Charles extended the lead three minutes later, heading the ball over the arms of Marie Hourihan after it bounced off the shoulder of England, who bagged her brace 18 minutes from time with a composed finish.

Hayes said: “Today I feel we’ve learnt the lessons of the past in terms of what you have to do to work the opponent down.

“I thought we were worthy of 1-0 in the first half because of what we created, and we worked them so hard that by the second half we were able to create the chances.

I’m really happy for Beth and you can see her consistency in the performance. Beth has been really good in training, I’m not surprised by the goals, I thought she worked hard off the ball but everybody contributed today.

“Niamh has been working hard up to this point, you can also see the consistency coming into her performance and she looked really solid down the side.

“I know she’ll build on this because of the hard work she does behind the scenes. She’s a consistent performer in training day in day out and deserving of the opportunity. I’m really proud of her.”

To follow the action and sign up for The FA Player’s live Barclays FA Women’s Super League coverage visit womenscompetitions.thefa.com