Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah hit an eight minute hat-trick as London City Lionesses hammered Fulham Women 5-0 to end the Whites’ interest in the FA Cup at the fourth round stage as well as their sixteen-match unbeaten run at Craven Cottage.
Fulham, the lowest-ranked side left in the competition, harboured hopes of an upset in front of the BBC TV cameras but the gulf between Steve Jaye’s side and their Championship opponents was starkly apparent at the end of contest watched by 2,000 fans. London City Lionesses could easily have gone in front as early as the third minute but Kosovare Asllani headed straight at Frankie Gibbs after finding space at the far post.
On-loan Arsenal defender Teyah Goldie had a header blocked at a corner before Boye-Hlorkah had her first sight of goal. The wily winger cut in from the left flank but her deflected shot was well parried by the stretching Gibbs. Fulham’s first opportunity came on the counter-attack when a hopeful through ball forced Emily Orman to dash way out of goal and deal with the danger. That got the Cottage crowd involved and the home faithful were soon baying their disapproval when the referee failed to book Georgia Brougham for a cynical bit of shirt-pulling on the halfway line.
Betty Barron-Clarke did go into the book for a late lunge at Charlene Meyong before Swedish international Asllani curled an effort wide of goal after the hosts had missed a couple of opportunities to clear. London City didn’t have to wait long to take the lead as they moved the ball at pace for the first time in the afternoon and the well-worked move saw Emma Mukundi’s cross elude Gibbs’ desperate attempts at an interception and Boye-Hlorka rolled the ball into the unguarded net.
Boye-Hlorka scored her second of the afternoon just two minutes later. This goal came from a corner – as the winger poached another from close range after Megan Campbell had miscued her shot at goal having found space at the back post. Lightning almost struck twice five minutes later when Mukundi’s cultured left foot supplied another cross from a short corner but no blue shirt was able to profit as the ball flashed across the goalmouth.
But Boye-Hlorka completed her hat trick after being left completely unattended from Sofia Jakobsson’s cross after Swedish international had surged along the right flank. The margin might easily have been greater for the dominant visitors but for some heroics from Gibbs in the Fulham goal. The goalkeeper did brilliantly to deny Boye-Hlorka and then Asllani after the hat-trick heroine had turned provider before half time.
Jaye sent on the long-serving Tia Foreman to replace Belle Taylor-Makepeace early in the second half but it did little change the complexion of the contest. The Lionesses were awarded a penalty when Gibbs took out Asllani as the Swede raced through on goal. The Fulham goalkeeper came off worse in the collision, but recovered to gallantly take her place on the goal-line only for Asllani to convert the spot-kick with a minimum of fuss.
A disconsolate Gibbs was soon replaced by summer signing Amber Webber as part of a triple substitution that saw Georgia Heasman and Lily Stevens replace Madi Parsonson and Barron-Clark. Webber’s first act was to fish the ball out of the net after excellent hold-up play by Asllani, who beautifully backheeled the ball into the path of an onrushing Issy Goodwin and the Championship’s top scorer did what she does best – finding the bottom corner with a fine finish.
Substitute Rofiat Imuran’s swerving effort came back off the post in the 90th minute – but the London City Lionesses had to settle for a comfortable five-goal cushion as seven minutes of stoppage time passed without any further chances. Fulham failed to register a shot on goal, but they could be proud of an excellent Cup run that saw them eventually outclassed by ruthless second tier opposition.
FULHAM FC WOMEN: Gibbs (Webber 62); Newman, Mendes, Tagliavini, Stormer; Barron-Clark (Stevens 62), B. Taylor, Gandee Morgan; Parsonson (Heasman 62), Taylor-Makepeace (Foreman 52), Olds. Subs (not used): Dale, Patel, Roberts, Jordan, Filer.
BOOKED: Barron-Clark.
LONDON CITY LIONESSES: Orman; Brown (Neville 74), Mukandi (Imuran 74), Goldie (Wilde 45), Campbell; Brougham (Roddar 45), Jakobsson, Meyong (Shen Mengyu 45); Boye-Hlorkah (Fitzgerald 74), Goodwin, Asllani. Subs (not used): Moloney, Scofield, Marashi.
GOALS: Boye-Hlorkah (25, 27, 33), Asllani (pen 60), Goodwin (65).
REFEREE: Hannah Gardner.
ATTENDANCE: 2,064.
