Eni's parting gift

Chelsea 3-1 OOH Lincoln Ladies
The FA Women’s Cup sponsored by E.ON
Sixth Round Proper
2pm, Sunday 22 February 2009
Metropolitan Police FC
Winning clubs will receive £1,250 from The FA

Managerless Chelsea took their place in the Semi-Final of The FA Women's Cup courtesy of a hard fought victory against Lincoln on Sunday.

Steve Jones stepped down as Blues boss on Friday, leaving player Casey Stoney to take over for the Sixth Round home tie.

Stoney got off to a winning start too, as a brace from Eni Aluko (left) in her last home game before heading to US side St.Louis Athletico and a Dunia Susi strike saw them come from behind to progress.

"I received a call late on Friday saying that the manager was leaving us," revealed Stoney after the game.

"I was asked if I could take over for a short term, on a temporary basis so I just tried to prepare and pick a team with the help of the back room staff.

"Obviously I need to prepare for playing, but we still need to make sure the team was prepared as much as possible.

"We had trained as normal on Thursday and then met early in the morning and went over what we're going to go through as a team and our preparation was as good as it could be really."

Chelsea didn't start that way though and they fell behind after only five minutes when a defensive mix-up led to Lincoln's Jodie Michalska being presented with an easy chance which she was only too pleased to accept.

The hosts got themselves back level on the stroke of half time though, when a shot from Leanne Sanderson was only parried out by the goalkeeper and when it landed at the feet of Aluko, she made no mistake to equalise.

Just four minutes after the break, Chelsea took the lead through Dunia Susi who latched onto a long ball before firing home a low shot from a tight angle.

Unfortunately though, Susi was sent off before play had even re-started following an altercation with a Lincoln defender.

They added a third goal just after the hour mark though when Aluko broke into the box and showed good close control and pace before flicking a finish home to complete a memorable last home appearance in which she also wore the captain's armband.

"I'm really pleased because obviously it was my last home game before I'm off to the States," Aluko told TheFA.com.

"I'm looking forward to the opportunity, for any women's footballer, it's a dream come true.

"I've had two good years at Chelsea and I'm just disappointed we didn't get to win anything.

"But I'm pleased to have scored and have a nice, lasting memory."