COUNTY CUP SEMI FINAL

Fleetwood Town Wrens 0

Chorley Ladies 6

CHORLEY Ladies will play Blackburn Rovers Ladies in the Lancashire Cup final after hitting Fleetwood Wrens for six - with Scarlett Smith bagging four of them.

The Ladies dominated the early exchanges and went ahead after converting their first chance of the match.

Laura Walker and Lisa Topping combined well in the middle of the park before the latter threaded a fine pass through to Smith who showed great composure to round the home keeper to slot the ball home.

Fleetwood were an occasional threat with the long ball over the top but Kerry Nickson and Saskia Bowes dealt with it superbly with some brilliant headed clearances.

But it was Chorley who continued to pose the bigger questions and nearly grabbed a second when Rachel Wood drilled in a low cross that was narrowly missed by Vicky Coope sliding in at the back post.

And that pressure finally paid off when Chorley grabbed a second midway through the half when a corner from Wood drifted over the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

There was no let-up from Chorley who finished the half strongly with Smith scoring twice to complete her hat-trick.

The first was a fine strike after turning her marker on the edge of the area.

The third arrived with half time approaching, scoring at the second attempt after the keeper had saved her initial effort following some fine approach play by Emily Yeoman and Wood.

With Chorley 4-0 up and victory all but assured, the second half lacked the intensity of the first. The visitors were happy to keep possession and keep Fleetwood at arm’s length.

Mel Ball, who hasn’t played a competitive fixture since the birth of her son in October, replaced Walker and this gave Chorley width.

A few crosses from out wide resulted in good chances for Chorley but the wind made headers more difficult and Fleetwood were able to clear the danger.

A fifth goal arrived mid-way through the half for Chorley when Topping turned away from three defenders before unleashing a low drive that was saved by the Wrens’ keeper. But the rebound fell kindly for Smith who tucked the ball home for her fourth of the match.

The final goal of the game came from another set-piece in the last 10 minutes of the one-sided semi final.

Coope whipped in a corner from the left hand side which evaded two Fleetwood defenders allowing left back JanetMitchell to lash an unstoppable shot into the back of the net from close range.

It was a lovely strike from the right back. Chorley saw the game out comfortably and are now through to the final of the county cup against high flying Blackburn Rovers.

n Chorley Ladies: Meghan Pope, Janet Mitchell, Saskia Bowes, Kerry Nickson, Emily Yeoman,Rachel Wood, Lisa Topping, Laura Walker,Vicky Coope, Scarlett Smith, Maddy Cullin.