West Women eased into the semi-finals of the Manchester Women’s Challenge Cup for the second consecutive year with a 9-0 win over Cheshire League side.

West were much changed from their weekend win over Chester as Captain Shauna Edmondson returned, Abi Littler was handed her full debut whilst Vicky Kerr returned to the bench. There was also starts for Jami Hodges and Vicky Lomas who both featured off the bench at the weekend.

The visiting team asserted their higher division status almost immediately as Rachael Dunlop fired over after just two minutes before Sophie Bracegirdle fired a hard effort just wide of the post from the corner of the penalty area.  The deadlock was broken on 10 minutes from a corner as Ellie Caddick’s superb delivery was rewarded as Shauna Edmondson headed home from point blank range.

Three minutes later it was 2-0 as Elizabeth Livesey rounded off an excellent West move as she drilled a low effort into the bottom corner despite the Sale goalkeeper getting her finger tips to it. The third arrived on 21 minutes as Dunlop received the ball deep before firing an unstoppable shot beyond the goalkeeper.

Briefly the floodgates opened as Vicky Lomas was rewarded for her hard work on 24 minutes as she finished off a mid-range effort her sixth goal in 11 games since joining the club in October. Livesey added her second with a well worked goal with Kerr picking out Bracegirdle on the right with her pin perfect cross brilliantly steered home by the head of the West striker.  The half ended on a moment of real quality as the dominant Hannah Mitchell rocketed the ball into the top corner from 25 yards out to make it 6-0.

Like Sunday, Sale United regrouped at half time and to their credit, showed great resilience before forcing West goalkeeper Leah Fish into a terrific one-on-one save shortly after half time.  A change of shape benefited the ‘home side’ as they kept West at bay for more than 25 minutes.

West weren’t to be denied, having scored in the second half in all but one game this season, and Livesey duly captured her hat-trick on 73 minutes when she rifled home an effort from inside the area. Edmondson almost followed up as she saw a thunderous volley cannon off the cross bar.

Having missed several second half chances, including a lovely run from emergency central defence that ended up in the keeper’s hands, Dunlop added her second as she finally beat the goalkeeper with an effort into the far corner.

Edmondson, deployed into her natural position of central midfield, saw another header cleared off the line by the boot of a Sale defender to deny her a second goal. Orla Conlon rounded off the evening with a moment of quality as she finally found the goal she’d been seeking since Sunday scoring a fine effort from outside the penalty area to make it 9-0.  Despite the one-sided score-line Sale United were a complete credit to their club and their league throughout the evening in a game with barely a free kick in the 90 minutes.

West have now registered 12 straight league wins, six consecutive clean sheets and have reached the semi-finals where they will face one of FC United of Manchester, Manchester Stingers or Salford City.