Report: Chelsea Ladies 6-0 Bristol City Women

The visitors started strongly, playing with ambition and trying to drive from deep, but the star studded Blues soon got into their rhythm as the hosts proved to be in a ruthless mood at Kingsmeadow.

Drew Spence broke the deadlock with a powerful diving header into the bottom-right corner to put Chelsea in front after a low cross from Karen Carney.

Lauren Hemp had a chance to level things for the visitors when she found herself one-on-one with Hedvig Lindahl, but the Vauxhall England Young Player of the Year shot straight at the Chelsea goalkeeper.

Just before the interval, Fran Kirby doubled Chelsea's lead with a clinical finish after a mix up in communication within the City Women defence.

Chelsea began the second half where they left off, with Maren Mjelde making it 3-0 on 50 minutes.

City Women then got back into the game, often through the tenacity of Hemp, but often lacked a clinical edge with the end product.

Magadelenda Eriksson made it four with a towering header from a corner and, soon after, Mjelde grabbed her brace after a driven cross from Gemma Davison.

In the dying moments of the game, Gilly Flaherty made it six, bundling the ball into the net after a scramble for possession in the box.

After the defeat, City Women manager Willie Kirk said: “Our season won’t be defined by defeats away at Chelsea or any of the big three – what matters for us is our games against slightly weaker opposition.

“We try and play our brand of football but that is always tough against opposition like this. I think when you are chasing the ball for 75 mins then it's always going to be a struggle.”

City Women: Baggaley, Dykes, Kerkdijk, Brown, Arthur, Estcourt, Biesmans (Wilson 72), Turner, Humphrey, Daniels (Woodham 83), Hemp. Subs not used: Fergusson, Allen, Wilson.

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