Conti Cup quarter-finals: Chelsea, Villa, and Man City through

Chelsea, Aston Villa, and Manchester City all booked their Conti Cup semi-final spots after a busy night of football.

Only three of the four quarter-finals went ahead after the London City Lionesses game at home to Arsenal was called off due to a waterlogged pitch.

Everything went to plan at Kingsmeadow though as Chelsea swept aside Championship team Sunderland.

It took just under 30 minutes for the blues to break the deadlock when Fran Kirby's cross from the right found Sjoeke Nüsken in acres of space to head home. The German defender doubled her side's lead just before half-time when she headed in at the near post from a corner.

Agnes Beever-Jones made it 3-0 early into the second half when she found herself with space to run into on the right. The young forward kept going and going before being able to fire into the net.

Fran Kirby wrapped up the win with a late brace to make it 5-0 on the night and put Chelsea into the semi-finals with ease.

Brighton & Hove Albion's game at home to Aston Villa was a much closer affair. 

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Kirsty Hanson levelled things for the visitors with 20 minutes to go when she headed in Kenza Dali's sweeping cross from the right.

That equaliser set things up for extra-time but after an extra half an hour of football the two teams still couldn't be separated, setting up a penalty shoot-out.

If you were to be critical of Van Domselaar for Brighton's goal she redeemed herself in the shoot-out. The Dutch goalkeeper saved three penalties from Vicky Losada, Elisabeth Terland, and Julia Zigiotti Olme while Lee Geum-min missed hers as well.

Villa only scored two of their four themselves (Adriana Leon and Anna Patten) but it was enough to see them through.

Finally, it took a brilliant goal from Yui Hasegawa to put Manchester City into the semi-finals at the expense of Tottenham Hotspur.

It was a tight game between the two teams in which City had plenty of the ball while Spurs did their best to defend resolutely.

But there was nothing Tottenham could do about the match-winner. With just over half an hour gone into the game the Japanese midfielder had space on the edge of the area to line up a powerful effort that found its way into the net via the underside of the crossbar.

There was nothing that Barbora Votíková – or any other goalkeeper in the world – could do to stop that one.

An absolute BANGER from @maybe10_ 🤯#ContiCup @ManCityWomen pic.twitter.com/YpWHmmPSlg

— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) February 7, 2024