Dunia Susi scored two after coming off the bench as Notts County cruised into the FA Women’s Cup semi-final with a 5-1 victory over WSL 2 side Aston Villa.
Villains goalkeeper Caitlin Leach was required to make two fine saves early on in the cup clash, denying Ellen White both times, but it proved third time lucky for the England international when she lobbed the visitors number one for County’s opener.
The hosts soon doubled their lead through Laura Bassett, who collected the rebound after Alex Greenwood’s well-struck free-kick was denied only by the post.
A third soon came courtesy of Aileen Whelan, before Susi emerged from the substitute’s bench to beat Leach either side of Kerri Welsh’s consolation goal for the visitors.
Aston Villa went into the game unlikely to cause a stir against the match favourites from WSL 1, and they were further hindered when Emily Owen was dismissed after the break for two bookable offences.
Notts were somewhat restricted during the first-half, and Villa manager Ronald Mellor will have been delighted to see his tactics paying off with a well-organised and coherent defensive line.
Unfortunately, their defensive tactics meant they struggled to create any notable chances of their own, before Welsh knocked a header past Carly Telford once the damage had already been done.
County manager Rick Passmoor expressed his delight at the victory for the clear favourites, but also gave credit to the lower-league side who fought resiliently.
“You have to applaud Aston Villa, their players and management team,” he said.
“They set themselves up in a way that made it difficult for us to break them down and it worked for 40 minutes or so.
“But once we cranked it up a gear we found space and time, and our energy and athleticism got us into positions to create and score. It was a terrific finish from Ellen White and that enabled us to go into the break 1-0 up and put us on the front foot. The goal ignited us and Villa had to come out and play which left gaps and holes.”
Mellor also spoke about the clash, but believed the scoreline didn’t reflect his side’s performance.
“The result speaks volumes, but we weren’t five goals worse,” he said.
“We set ourselves up to contain them and we did that until the 45th minute then Ellen White scores a wonderful goal.
“In the second half we wanted to keep it tight again and hold them for as long as we could before having a go in the last 20 minutes, but we couldn’t do that. We lost a player and were down to 10 and gaps opened up. The running we did in the first half told and a team of the quality of Notts County found those gaps.”
Notts County have been drawn against Everton in the semi-final, while Chelsea will play Manchester City in the other tie on May 3.
