Chelsea manager Emma Hayes praised her side for learning the lessons from previous games as her side beat Birmingham City 5-0 at Kingsmeadow. The result sees the Blues through to the Vitality Women’s FA Cup semi-finals thanks to goals from Magdalena Eriksson, Drew Spence, Niamh Charles and a brace from Bethany England.
It took until just before the break for the hosts to break down a stubborn City defence, and Hayes was pleased with how her side set about the task. She 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.”
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The game saw a brace for England forward England, and Hayes was delighted for her striker who grabbed her sixth and seventh goals of the season. She added: “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.”
Chelsea dominated from start to finish against a City side that sit bottom of the Barclay’s FA Women’s Super League and nearly opened the scoring early on through Ji So-Yun. The breakthrough eventually came from the home side just before the break as Eriksson nodded home a cross from England.
The second half saw the goals that reflected Chelsea’s dominance with Spence doubling the lead before England scored twice either side of a headed effort from Charles. It was just a second goal of the season for Charles and Hayes praised the hard work and consistency of the former Liverpool player
“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,” said Hayes “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.”
The result puts Chelsea through to the final four where they will face one of Manchester City, Arsenal, or West Ham as they look to retain their title.
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