Scott Rogers was delighted with his Liverpool side’s lightning start as they booked their place in the SSE Women’s FA Cup Semi Finals with victory over Notts County.
Early strikes from Caroline Weir and Natasha Harding gave Rogers’ side a 2-0 win, with Notts made to pay for lapses in concentration in defence.
Liverpool were 1-0 up before some fans had even taken their seats, Weir’s long-range effort squirming under Carly Telford after just three minutes.
And Weir turned provider on 18 minutes, her through ball splitting the Notts defence and allowing Harding to smash the ball into the roof of the net.
Kirsty Linnett twice went close for County on two occasions as they looked for a way back into the game, but the Reds eased home to make it through to the final four.
And Rogers was pleased with his side’s energy and game management as they saw the match home.
“The game plan was to start quick so I’m pleased because we did that,” he said. “We got a little bit fortunate with the first goal because nine times out of ten Carly [Telford] saves that.
“But we started with a lot of energy; got a good lead and we were able to control after that.
“That’s maybe something different that we didn’t do last season so I’m really pleased for the squad. It’s always pleasing to come through these tough games.”
Goalscorer Weir said she backed the ability and talent of Liverpool’s squad to cause a threat to anyone put in their path.
“We knew it was going to be a difficult game, to start like that helped us a lot and we’re delighted because this is such a big competition,” she said.
“We’ve got a really strong squad, we’re dangerous in attack on our day because we’ve got such good pace. I think teams are wary of that, we can cause any team problems so we’ve just got to develop as a team and keep finding that balance between attack and defence.”
Notts boss Rick Passmoor admitted his side were below par, and lamented the errors that gave Liverpool the advantage early in the game.
“Your game plan goes out of the window early on when something like that happens, rather than Liverpool winning it we lost it,” he said. “We had good possession and good patterns of play but we’ve been undone by two errors.
“The second goal we’re on the edge of their box and we’ve been countered, we’ve hit the bar and we’ve had one cleared off the line but we’ve had reactive players today rather than proactive.
“In the second half it was still there to get back in the game nobody took responsibility and nobody inspired – we were a little bit flat.”
Liverpool 2
Weir 3, Harding 18
Notts County 0
Liverpool: (4-2-3-1): Siobhan Chamberlain; Ashley Hodson, Casey Stoney, Gemma Bonner, Alex Greenwood; Kate Longhurst, Ali Johnson; Sophie Ingle,Caroline Weir, Shanice Van de Sanden, Natasha Harding
Substitutes: Katie Zelem for Weir 77
Substitutes not used: Danielle Gibbons, Meg Taylor, Paige Cole
Bookings: Weir 25
Red Cards: None
Notts County: (3-4-1-2): Carly Telford; Danielle Buet, Louise Quinn, Laura Bassett; Angharad James, Jade Moore, Leanne Crichton, Shelly Provan; Kirsty Linnett; Aileen Whelan, Rachel Williams
Substitutes: Bianca Bragg for James 74
Substitutes not used: Megan Walsh, Niamh Cashin, Jess Clarke
Referee: Simon Mather
Attendance: 302
