LIVERPOOL LADIES
Ladies start slow and can't find their passing groove against five-star Chelsea
but for whatever reason we
didn’t want to pass the ball in the
first half, which played into their
hands.”
England striker Fran Kirby
gave Chelsea a fourth-minute
lead, holding off a defender and
slotting into the bottom corner
after a chipped through ball
from Ji So-Yun. The home side
then doubled their advantage in
the 23rd minute through Swiss
striker Ramona Bachmann, who
rounded Reds keeper Siobhan
Chamberlain after latching onto
a long ball over the top. And just
one minute later Kirby profited
from a similar ball through before
firing her shot past Chamberlain.
Liverpool started the second
half well and were rewarded in
the 51st minute through Casey
Stoney (left), who headed into
the bottom corner from a corner.
But all hopes of a comeback
were soon crushed by Kirby,
who completed her hat-trickby tucking home her third from
close-range.
Substitute Erin Cuthbert
capped off Chelsea’s dominant
display in the 78th minute with
a curling effort from the edge of
the area to guarantee her side’s
place in the semi-final.
Reds boss Rogers added:
“Chelsea are a very good side
and we were punished. As a
group we were much better in
the second half and performed
more to the level that we are
accustomed to seeing.
“But you look at their team and
they’re not just one of the best in
our league, they’re probably one
of the best in Europe. That’s the
level that everyone is aspiring to
get to. Today they turned up and
at times we didn’t.”
The Reds return to action on
Saturday 6 January 2018 when
they host Yeovil Town in an FA
Women's Super League 1 fixture
(kick-off 5.30pm).L
iverpool Ladies ended 2017
on a disappointing note as
they crashed out of the
Continental Cup at the quarter-
final stage.
Handed one of the toughest
possible draws at FA WSL title
hopefuls and UEFA Champions
League quarter-finalists Chelsea,
the Reds paid the price for a
slow start as they suffered
a 5-1 defeat at Kingstonian's
Kingsmeadow Stadium.
Manager Scott Rogers said
afterwards: “I don’t think we
started the game well and you’re
always up against it versus a top
team like Chelsea. We started
slower than we wanted to and
were punished by a top team.
We said to the girls at half-time
that we needed to be a little bit
braver and take some more risks,
it is a cup tie.
“But first and foremost we
needed to use the ball better. I
don’t think we did that enough in
the first half and sometimes our
girls are very good technicallyCUP BLUES FOR REDS