After the defeat against Brighton in midweek, The Blues were looking to kick on again in the league. As expected, a few changed were made from the midweek squad as Darren Carter made use of the squad depth. It looked a rather attacking set-up for Blues, and attack they did...
First Half
It couldn't have been a better start for Blues as they took the lead within two minutes! Ellie Mason did brilliantly to win a corner for Blues, taken by Lucy Quinn. Gemma Lawley leapt majestically to get on the end of it and head home to put Blues 0-1 up. Blues continued with their impressive attacking display, leaving The Blades looking panicked. Mason had a chance in the 8th minute from a corner but her header was comfortably saved by former Blue Fran Stenson, who was called into action again a few minutes later when Quinn nearly scored straight from a corner, but Stenson reacted well to keep it out. Sheffield United had a chance in the 21st minute when another former Blue Ashley Hodson was played through down the left hand side but Neve Herron got back well to tighten the angle and Hodson's shot was straight at Lucy Thomas, who had her near post covered. Blues doubled their lead on the 27th minute and no words can do Martha Harris' strike justice, but I will try. The ball came out to her, about 25 yards out, and she fired it into the top left hand corner, an absolute rocket, nothing Stenson could do about it and it was 0-2 to the Blues! As The Blues continued to pressure The Blades' defence, there was a big penalty shout when Ivana Fuso had the ball scooped away from her feet by a Sheffield United hand in the penalty area, but nothing was given. Sheffield United had a couple of good spells in the first half but it was a half very much dominated by Blues, as their 0-2 lead showed.
Second Half
Blues started the second half very much the same as the first and nearly had another goal within two minutes of the restart, but Quinn just missed the ball as she went for the volley and Sheffield Untied cleared. There's the motto "if at first you don't succeed...try again" and that's exactly what Quinn did in the 53rd minute when Charlie Devlin played a great cross into the area, from the left, and Quinn volleyed the ball in off the left post to make it 0-3. Blues thought they had a fourth in the 60th minute when Jade Pennock (who came on to replace Quinn) had the ball in the back of the net, but the referee blew for a foul and the goal was disallowed. A few minutes later, Sheffield United had a chance through Rachel Brown but t was straight at Thomas. Blues weren't happy to stop at three goals and kept their attacking play going. Fuso had a brilliant shot from around 20 yards out, in the 70th minute, and it took an equally brilliant save from Stenson to keep the ball from going into the top corner. Blues' efforts were rewarded with a fourth goal when Remi Allen broke through the Blades' midfield and evaded their defence to get into the box and slot the ball past Stenson to make it 0-4. A nice birthday present for Allen! Blades did argue that there was a handball but, if so, we'll have that for the first half one. There were a few moments where Blues had to defend during the second half but, just like the first, it was dominated by Blues and 0-4 is how it ended!
An absolutely fantastic result on the road for Blues! It was great to see us playing more attacking football, at times this season we've seen us get the ball well into the opposition half only to go back again. Today, Blues really showed their quality, all over the pitch, and this is the performance we know the squad is capable of. The Blues will be looking to replicate their performance as they take on Watford next Sunday, at St Andrew's. Blues Women's Supporters Group have some free tickets available, so make sure you get in touch with them on social media if you want to watch The Blues in action next Sunday.