Fulham’s impressive Adobe Women’s FA Cup run finally came to an end at the hands of London City Lionesses, who dashed dreams of a famous upset with a 5-0 win.
The Whites were the lowest-ranked side left in the competition and battled well against their Championship opponents, but a hat-trick from Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah as well as goals from Kosovare Asllani and Isobel Goodwin did the damage.
Unsurpisingly, Fulham had to withstand early pressure from the away side, with Asllani almost directing Boye-Hlorkah’s mis-hit effort goalwards, before the latter saw a downward header well saved by Frankie Gibbs.
The Whites did threaten a quarter of an hour in when pressure from Madi Parsonson forced a defensive slip, leaving Emily Orman no choice but to play sweeper keeper and clear the danger.
The Lionesses took the lead on 25 minutes when Emma Mukandi-Mitchell swung a ball in from the left and Boye-Hlorkah nipped in ahead of Gibbs to tuck home.
And they made it a quickfire double from a well-worked corner routine, Boye-Hlorkah again on the mark to score from a yard out after Sofia Jakobsson’s pass across the box.
It didn’t take long for Boye-Hlorkah to complete her hat-trick, as Jackobsson lofted a cross in from the right for the former Everton and Aston Villa forward to direct past Gibbs.
The Fulham shot-stopper did make an excellent save from Boye-Hlorkah moments later though, palming away a stinging effort after she had worked the shooting opportunity in the box.
Gibbs impressed again when Sweden international Asllani found time and space in the box, but our keeper pulled off a fine reflex save to keep the score down.
After the break, Gibbs collided with an onrushing Asllani while attempting to collect the ball. The keeper faced the resulting penalty following lengthy treatment, but was sent the wrong way by Asllani.
Gibbs was replaced by Amber Webber, whose first job was the pick the ball out of the net after Isobel Goodwin found a way through and swept home.
Fulham didn’t let up as the clock ticked down as Ella Newman tried to catch Orman off her line with five minutes left, but the attempted lob fell short.
Rofiat Imuran almost found a sixth for London City late on with an audacious long-range effort that came back off the post, but the score remained 5-0.
