Sam Kerr and Fran Kirby were unstoppable against Bristol City as they lead a strong Chelsea team to lift a second consecutive Conti Cup at Vicarage Road.
Starting XI
Chelsea: Berger; Bright, Ingle (Spence 45’), Leupolz (Cuthbert 45’), Reiten, Kirby (Charles 61’), Eriksson (c), Fleming, Mjelde, Kerr (Carter 61’), Andersson (Blundell 45’)
Bristol: Baggaley; Bryson, Evans (c) (Rafferty 79’), Humphrey (Palmer 65’), Salmon, Daniels, Wellings, Bissell (H 45’), Purfield, Mastrantonio, Skeels (Layzell 84’).
How it went
Chelsea dominated much of the first half, with Sam Kerr scoring Chelsea’s first goal in the second minute after an assist from Fran Kirby. The duo teamed up again to make it 2-0 following another goal from the Australian just before the 11th minute.
Following Chelsea’s second, Bristol upped their game slightly and advanced towards the goal. However, the Blues’ defence was strong and goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger did not need to intervene and kick the ball out. Emma Hayes’ side proved to be solid, leaving Bristol few opportunities on the goal.
Luck appeared to briefly be on the Robins’ side, as Chelsea missed a flurry of opportunities.But Kirby then seized the moment to intercept a pass from Sophie Baggaley and smash the ball into the left corner of the net.
Kirby then found another gap in Bristol’s defence to tap the ball into the back of the goal giving Chelsea a 4-0 lead just before half time.
Bristol bought forward Abi Harrison on after half-time but Chelsea stormed into the second half with another goal from Sam Kerr in the 48th minute. Chelsea continued to control much of the play and a smooth assist from Kerr bought the ball to the feet of Guro Reiten who gave Chelsea their sixth goal of the game.
Niamh Charles and Jess Carter were then bought on to replace Kirby and Kerr, who came off the pitch having solidified Chelsea’s win over the Robins. Bristol endured some unfortunate collisions as captain Gemma Evans made an attempt on the goal but clattered into Berger as they both jumped for the ball. Aimee Palmer then collided with Maren Mjelde who was carried off the pitch after a knee injury.
Stand out performance
Kerr and Kirby were undeniably the stand-out players throughout Chelsea’s consecutive Conti Cup final win. They scored five goals between them and had the most attempts on the goal Baggaley did well to defend some of Chelsea attempts on goal, however the power of the Blues duo proved much too strong.
