Clinical Chelsea make it a hard day’s night for part-time rivals

With hindsight, it should not have been surprising that Chelsea – twice winners of the Women’s Super League and twice winners of the Women’s FA Cup – carved open Tottenham Ladies en route to the Continental Cup quarter-finals.

Spurs needed not only to defeat their Champions League-worthy opponents but for Yeovil to beat Brighton at home: the visitors won 3-1.

At one point, a Tottenham fan behind the press box consoled themselves with the words “our girls have been at work all day”, and it would have been comical were the gulf between the full- and parttime teams in women’s football not always so pronounced.

Despite Spurs’ Megan Wynne firing narrowly over with the game a minute old, Chelsea responded in clinical fashion.

The opener hardly covered Spurs in glory – goalkeeper Emma Gibbon dropped the ball and Deanna Cooper tapped in from close range – but Chelsea’s second was one for Tottenham’s defenders to watch through latticed fingers; Ali Riley granted all the time in the world to gear up for a shot that nestled in the top corner with a ludicrous sense of ease.

Any hopes of a Spurs riposte were dashed for good after the break when Chelsea, a blur of yellow shirts, unpicked their opponents for Karen Carney to add a third goal. When Gibbon’s save bounced back off the crossbar and Bethany England headed in the rebound, Spurs, despite their toil, were left licking their wounds with a crushing sense of inevitability, before England’s fine curling effort completed the rout. Tottenham (4-3-3) Gibbon; Hector, Green, Wynne, Neville (Leon 67); Schillaci, Filbey, Naz; Baptiste (Dean 70), Haines (Addison 51), Mcclean. Subs Morgan (g), Meiwald, Vyse, Wiltshire. Chelsea (4-5-1) Durack; Asante, Eriksson, Bailey, Riley; Carter, Carney, England, Cooper, Cuthbert (Spence 78); Engman. Subs Telford (g), Blundell, Bright, Ingle, Ji, Andersson.