Womens FA Cup 4th Round. Sunday, January 8Blackburn Rovers Ladies v. Chelsea Ladies
Brockhall Village, the home of Blackburn Rovers Ladies, was surely the only place to head for anyone hunting an upset in the 4th Round of the FA Womens Cup, after all it would be possible to argue that the result was a shock whichever way it went.
Although Chelsea Ladies FC are presently a division above Blackburn Ladies they have been struggling all season while Rovers have an unblemished record in the Premier League North as they seek promotion to the top flight.
Blackburn would no doubt be hoping to show premier League credentials whilst the Londoners would be hoping to kick start a disappointing campaign with victory against their aspiring hosts.
Blackburn Rovers Ladies set the tone for the first half from the off.
Lynda Shepherd was especially prominent as the home team were first to everything in midfield in the early minutes and Katie Brusell sent a couple of passes beyond the visitors defence which allowed Katie Anderton the chance to show her pace.
Chelsea Ladies looked immediately unnerved.
After five minutes Shepherd sent Andrea Bell racing away with a probing ball inside Sophie Perry. Bell's instant lobbed volley was the right option as Caroline Collie came to meet her but the effort dropped narrowly wide of the near post.
Blackburn Ladies continued to press as Chelsea Ladies carried on chasing shadows, particularly in midfield.
On twenty minutes Bell's pace again caught out the visitors defence and Collie was at full stretch to beat her to the ball. The Chelsea keepers' problems had only just begun, however, as her momentum carried her out of the box.
Thinking and reacting quickly, Collie released the ball in the nick of time before managing to kick behind for a corner from her prone position.
Collie's intervention had looked ungainly but was, in fact, expertly done and the loud handball claims against her were rightly ignored.
This was the signal for a major reshuffle in the Chelsea ranks as they sought to bring some order to proceedings.
Tammy Thornton moved back into the centre of defence alongside Kyp Loizou with captain Laura Cooper moving over to left back in an attempt to stem the tide of Blackburn attacks while a narrowed midfield looked to stifle Shepherd and company.
These alterations helped the visitors although the home side retained the initiative.
Almost twenty five minutes had passed before Chelsea mounted a worthwhile attack, a neat interchange between Ellen White and Lizzie Edwards giving Perry a shooting chance from 20 yards. Perry's effort was well off target, however.
Blackburn's chief threat had come from a succession of raking early balls asking questions of the Chelsea full backs and another soon had Bell racing through on the keeper again.
Once more Bell shot early as Collie advanced and the ball brushed the keepers' leg on its way past the far post.
Almost nothing had been seen of the Chelsea attack to this point as Natalie Brewer and Nicky Twohig dealt comfortably with a stream of hopeful balls down the middle but a sudden, incisive movement showed that there was quality in the visitors frontline.
Perry sent White away down the left hand side of the area and her wicked ball across the six yard box was met at pace and at full stretch by Nina Downham who was desperately unlucky to see her effort clip the top of the bar on its way to safety.
There was more danger for Blackburn when Perry took advantage of some careless play in the Rovers defence to win possession but with White completely clear to her left Perry shot tamely from the edge of the box and Kay Hawke gathered comfortably.
Blackburn Ladies now reasserted themselves with another fine ball down the channel, this time for Sarah McCrea, whose dangerous ball to the far post was well cleared by Laura Cooper.
As the pressure intensified Tammy Thornton, who was playing well in the heart of defence, conceded a free kick just outside the box with an untidy challenge on Anderton and Collie was at full stretch to tip Anisha Bateman's free kick over the bar.
The corner count was rising massively in Blackburn's favour and from another Andrea Bell got in a shot at goal which the packed Chelsea defence was able to block at the expense of yet another corner.
Then Caroline Collie almost undid all her earlier good work by sending a weak goal kick straight to the feet of Anderton. Collie redeemed herself, however, by producing her best save yet to turn Anderton's rising drive over the crossbar.
The half ended with a half chance for the visitors. A clever turn by Ellen White, who had been peripheral but looked a class act, brought a handball from Shepherd and from Emma Delves' low free kick Thornton managed a shot on the turn but Hawke was not seriously troubled and despite this late flurry the first forty five minutes had definitely belonged to Blavkburn.
Half Time: Blackburn Ladies 0 Chelsea Ladies 0
The interval allowed the speedy Rovers forward Andrea Bell to put her personal bootlace tier to some good use while there was more serious work to be done in the Chelsea camp.
There was doubtless more fine tuning to be done with the rejigged midfield but the crucial change was the introduction of Amy Found as substitute for Sophie Perry.
There had been no physical challenge to the Rovers defence in the first half but it was safe to assume that there would be now as the strapping Found took her place at the head of the Chelsea attack.
What was harder to predict in the opening moments of the half while watching the giant forward attune herself to the pace of the game was the intelligent movement, link up play and positively sublime first touch which Found would soon be demonstrating.
Found's contribution was pivotal in changing the balance of play and the second half belonged to the visitors every bit as much as the first half had been the property of the hosts.
The change was immediate but only really revealed itself in stages.
At first you noticed that the Rovers attack was not posing the same threat as before and then you became increasingly aware of Chelsea players who had completely escaped without notice in the first half, and you could not help but recognise the problems Amy Found was causing the hitherto untroubled Brewer and Twohig.
Not that this resulted in a rush of chances for the visitors, these remained evenly spread, but it was now Chelsea Ladies who looked the team whereas the Blackburn Ladies threat was more of an individual kind.
There was a moment of panic for Blackburn as Found muscled Twohig off the ball precisely at the moment Hawke slipped in the Blackburn goal but the resulting shot was not clean and Hawke recovered to gather.
Then Katie Brusell showed her strength in attack for Blackburn and created a chance for Sarah McCrea to test Collie from 20 yards. The attempt was crisp but Collie was equal to it.
When Chelsea Ladies won a corner of their own Nicki de la Salle attempted a scissor kick but was spectacularly awry with her timing.
De la Salle's influence was increasing by the minute, however. Annonymous in the first half she now seemed to gain conviction with every contribution and was emerging from challenges with possession time and again across the midfield.
She was also the main source of service and support to the visitors front three who had been totally isolated earlier, in which role she was keenly joined by the right back Emma Delves who came forward increasingly to send dangerous balls into and across the box.
In all these things, however, the willingness and ability of Amy Found to receive and retain possession was vital.
After sixty six minutes another attack down the right saw Chelsea win a free kick for a foul on the nimble White.
Emma Delves sent a high ball to the far post where Found, rising early, buried a towering header low past the helpless Hawke.
It might have been perfectly simple but it was hard to see what the home defence could have done to prevent it.
Shortly afterwards another set piece into the Rovers box saw right back Holly Pointon flat out after a hefty collision among a ruck of players.
Pointon remained perfectly stationary, never a good sign, until the game was eventually stopped and although she was helped over the touchline the situation still looked serious.
Eventually Pointon was taken away on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance, we can only hope the problem was not as serious as it looked.
Replacing Pointon was Hannah Bailey, a girl who makes Ole Gunnar Solksjaer look like your Great Grandfather, and she immediately took up a position in the forward line as the home side looked to get back on terms.
Still Chelsea called the tune, however, Lizzie Edwards and Amber Cook joining forces with de la Salle to give the visitors a firm grip of the midfield.
Bateman tried her luck on the volley from 30 yards but was straight at the keeper and McCrea saw a centre drop just beyond the angle of post and bar but it was increasingly difficult to see where an equaliser might come from.
The answer, in no small part, came in the persistance of the young sub, Bailey. Outnumbered near the byeline and with nowhere to go Bailey managed to force her side a corner and although nothing came of the actual kick Blackburn were able to maintain the pressure and gain their reward.
Vicky Eastwood beat Ellen White to an attempted clearance and found Katie Anderton deep inside the area.
Anderton was forced away from goal by the excellent Loizou but having engineered a yard of space just inside the area the Rovers forward turned to send a dipping drive over Collie and into the roof of the net.
Although the strike was central it was one of those that was goalbound from the moment it left her foot.
After suitably excited celebrations both sides spent the lengthy period of injury time in a vain search for a winning goal although Sarah Howden, on as substitute for Bell, had a chance for the home side right at the death but could not find sufficient power with her header to beat Collie.
Full Time (90 minutes): Blackburn Rovers Ladies 1 Chelsea Ladies 1
With the game entering extra time and a couple of players having already gone down with cramp, several of the girls might have been wishing they had not been quite so keen in the pre match keep ball sessions but they had no option now but to get on with it.
Chelsea Ladies must have been deflated to concede such a late equaliser but you would never have guessed as they set about re-establishing control in extra time.
Ellen White put a dangerous pass into the box for Found and Twohig to contest. It was a test of strength with both players determined not to give way. Neither did, though both buckled, and the ball ran harmlessly out for a goal kick.
Nicki de la Salle tried another ambitious attempt from a corner but was too high with her volley before Hannah Bailey replied for Rovers, showing a lovely touch and turn from Twohig's long ball but not finding the power in her finish to trouble Collie.
Bailey's contribution had certainly been encouraging, however.
Whether there was a collective second wind or if the girls just did not fancy taking penalties the second period of extra time saw renewed vigour from both sides. More than ever, however, Chelsea Ladies now had the upper hand.
Amy Found threaded a ball into White who turned smartly to send in a curling shot which the well placed Hawke held before Nina Downham sent Found clear to cross and Natalie Brewer was uncomfortably close to the near post in putting behind for a corner.
Downham had been largely quiet but looked a real threat now as Chelsea attacked consistently down the right where Emma Delves, one of the earlier cramp victims, continued to press forward in support at every opportunity.
With eight minutes remaining another Chelsea rais down that flank saw Found gain possession tight to the corner flag.
There looked nothing on but I was beyond being surprised by anything the burly centre forward did by this stage and Found duly produced another piece of magic in digging out a vicious centre on the turn deep to the far post.
The ball was crying out to be attacked and Ellen White didn't disappoint, arriving with purpose to send an emphatic header high into Kay Hawke's goal.
Chelsea Ladies looked to kill off the game as a contest and almost did so when another beautiful piece of control allied with the quick feet of White drew a bookable foul out of Twohig right on the edge of the box, dead centre.
Nicki de la Salle flipped a neat shot over the wall which passed inches wide of the left hand post with Hawke looking on helplessly.
There was even less reason to suspect a grandstand finish from Blackburn now but to their immense credit they managed one and the game ended in two minutes of pandemonium in and around the Chelsea penalty area.
First a header rebounded to safety from the face of the crossbar and then, with Kay Hawke forward from her goal and Nina Downham waiting hopefully by herself on the halfway line for the easiest goal she would ever score, Sarah McCrea's wickedly inswinging corner caused panic in the Chelsea ranks and a low drive was heading for the bottom corner before Tammy Thornton booted clear from the goalline.
Sorry for not naming names here but with the penalty area probably illegally overcrowded it was very difficult to tell.
This was the last chance for salvation, however, as the final whistle brought a close to this epic encounter which had ebbed and flowed in the best cup tie traditions but had, in the end, produced the most reasonable result.
It was also good to see the opposing players recognising one anothers efforts so fully at the end.
Everybody involved did indeed deserve congratulations for such an entertaining game.
Full Time (AET): Blackburn Rovers Ladies 1 Chelsea Ladies 2
Star Player: Kyp Loizou
It was hard to overlook Amy Found's contribution but when her team needed her most Loizou was invariably there to be counted on.
Just shading her partner Tammy Thornton, if I'd been given £1 for every interception she made I'd have gone up at least one tax bracket, perhaps two.
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