Chelsea 3-0 Everton
Superior finishing ability was the difference between the two sides as Chelsea saw off Everton in the Women’s FA Cup Fifth Round.
Chelsea boss Emma Hayes made five changes to her starting line up from Sunday’s UEFA Women’s Champions League Final defeat by Barcelona in Gothenburg.
Fran Kirby was out of the squad completely with Jonna Andersson replacing Niamh Charles at the back. A major reshuffle in midfield saw Erin Cuthbert, Jessie Fleming and Guro Reiten all coming in for Ji So-Yun, Sophie Ingle and Pernille Harder, who were all on the bench.
The two Matildas in action, one of either side, had a massive influence on the game with Hayley Raso in sensational form for “The Toffees” in the first half, and Chelsea’s Sam Kerr involved in all three of her side’s goals.
Everton clearly fancied their chances down the right hand side, and within thirty seconds earned a corner after Raso was found in acres of space. The Matilda turned in a first time curling cross which Jess Carter cleared for the corner under huge pressure. The resulting set piece from Claire Emslie caused chaos in the Blues box with Ann-Katrin Berger unable to hold onto it and Beth England forced into a clearance of the agricultural variety.
The opening ten minutes were all about Raso. She turned the after burners on to constantly get the better of Andersson, which enabled her to enjoy the freedom to play in tempting crosses which caught on the swirling wind to completely flummox Berger.
Such was the total dominance that Raso held over Andersson that the Everton winger looked to attack the Swede wherever she moved to on the pitch – occasionally coming inside to the middle to target the Chelsea defender in a bid to take further advantage.
Chelsea worked Sandy MacIver for the first time after 14 minutes when Kerr’s header from Cuthbert’s corner was held by the young keeper.
Chelsea responded to Raso’s dangerous start by pulling Carter across to the right hand side in a bid to reduce the impact that the Queenslander was having. Such was the pressure that the Merseyside side were exerting in the opening 20 minutes, home striker England was a regular extra presence at the back to mop up.
Despite the fact that Raso had the beating of the Chelsea defence, none of her team mates could profit from her creativity. It was only going to be a matter of time until the Londoners carved out another opportunity despite the outstanding efforts of both Megan Finnigan and Gabby George at the back for Everton.
Eventually, Chelsea emphasised their extra quality in the box on 29 minutes when Kerr played a low ball across to Reiten to slot calmly past MacIver’s reach into the left hand corner of the net.
Without her regular creative partner Fran Kirby, Kerr had a freer role up front, popping up either side of the central position which resulted in the Western Australian playing as a creative link for Reiten and England. From one such move just before the break, she found the head of England who outjumped the Toffees defence to head home, only for referee Kirsty Dowle to rule out the effort for offside.
The second half saw Chelsea with the lion’s share of possession as Everton struggled to gain a foothold in the game now that the momentum was with the Londoners.
The first opportunity fell their way on 51 minutes as England defender Millie Bright sent a curling shot from 25 metres just over the bar.
Shortly afterwards Kerr found herself clean through and one on one with MacIver. The Everton keeper momentarily hesitated, seemingly in two minds whether to narrow the angle or stand her ground. Eventually, she re-positioned her body to deny the Matildas star with her chest. Just past the hour mark, the same pair faced each other once more and again, MacIver made a superb save with her left leg.
Everton’s chances were at a premium now, but when they did arise, Raso was at the heart of them. With twenty-two minutes to go, she left Andersson for dead again down the right, cut in and shot just over the bar.
Five minutes later, Raso played an inch perfect ball in for Nicoline Sorensen, but the Dane’s effort was narrowly over.
One further positive for Everton across the match was the exceptional job that 21 year-old left back Poppy Pattinson was doing in nullifying Erin Cuthbert’s threat.
With the game in its final quarter, Kerr was playing slightly deeper, almost behind England, as she continued to play in others.
Blues keeper Berger tried to release the Australian with a quick goal keeper, but completely misjudged her kick which didn’t manage to clear the 18 yard-box.
Yet just sixty seconds after this near calamity, Bright played a long, high ball towards Kerr from just inside the Everton half. The FAWSL Golden Boot winner controlled the pass and fired a vicious shot which flew into the net beyond the reach of MacIver to put the game to bed.
Kerr turned provider again in the closing stages. With five minutes left, her throw found its way to Sophie Ingle and the Welsh star crashed in a powerful effort from just outside the area which only just went wide of the right hand post.
Then, on 87 minutes, Kerr picked up the ball on the by-line on the right, dug the ball out from under her feet and put a cross which Drew Spence powered home with her head for 3-0.
It was a harsh score line on Everton who, with Raso starring in the first half, were exceptional in their approach work but lacked a ruthless finisher to convert their opportunities. If you don’t take your chances against Emma Hayes’ side, you will live to regret it.
Whilst the game was, hopefully the last top level women’s match to be played between closed doors in England before fans are allowed back next season, it didn’t stop a group of around thirty supporters gathering outside the ground at the end of the game to cheer the players as they departed the stadium for their summer break.
The fans were very keen to show their support for Sam Kerr despite her tough start to live in South-West London.
Mark Pycraft of the Chelsea Women’s Supporters Group said: “Her first full season has been brilliant. She started off missing a few opportunities but she just needed to find her rhythm and she’s been awesome since then.
“It took herself a while to get sorted. She had to get used to her new surroundings. She had a rough time, not being able to see her family and friends plus it was cold! Having said that, she had a really good relationship with Beth [England] last season before lockdown.
“She didn’t really have the rapport with the fans at the start, but come the end of the season, she was loving it, she was loving life and really interacting with everyone. She’s a great person.
“Her unselfish play and setting up others has been almost more impressive than her actual goal scoring, to be honest.”
One of the other group of Chelsea supporters gathered outside the stadium on Thursday night was also fulsome in praise of the Matilda.
“Sam is just an absolutely amazing player. We’re so glad that she came to Chelsea and we are delighted with what she has done this season. Now she’s scoring all the goals, it’s fantastic!
“Sam is one of the greatest players of all time and we are privileged to have her in our team.”
Teams: CHELSEA: Berger, Carter, Bright, Eriksson, Andersson, Leupolz, Reiten, Fleming, Cuthbert, England, Kerr. Substitutes: Musovic (GK), Telford (GK), Blundell, Ingle (for Fleming 72), Ji, Charles (for Cuthbert 73), Harder (for Reiten 79), Spence (for Leupolz 79), Fox.
Scorers: Reiten 29, Kerr 77, Spence 87.
EVERTON: MacIver, Moe Wold, George, Christiansen, Emslie, Raso, Scott, Gauvin, Finnigan, Sevecke, Pattinson. Substitutes: Korpela, Boye-Hlorkah (for Moe Wold 90), Lehmann, Magill, Stinger, Sorensen (for Emslie 67), Graham (for Gauvin 84), Clemaron, Clinton.
Referee: Kirsty Dowle.
