Niamh Charles praised the team togetherness and work ethic displayed by Chelsea Women following our Continental League Cup quarter-final victory against Manchester City.
This match will be streamed on this website, the 5th Stand app, Chelsea FC Women's Facebook and YouTube as part of our Super Sunday of live football and kick-off is at 2pm. There will also be coverage of Chelsea's development squad game against Southampton which has a kick-off of 5.30pm. More details can be found here.
Charles netted a goal of the highest standard in the dying moments of normal time to force an additional 30 minutes after a late Lauren Hemp goal had given the hosts a 2-1 lead with just five minutes remaining.Extra-time goals from Guro Reiten and Sophie Ingle completed the 4-2 victory and Charles highlighted the willingness from every player to work for each other as a huge factor in getting through to the semi-finals.She said: ‘In the first half, I think both teams were working each other out and then the second half became a little more stretched. City came back into it to make it 1-1 and then 2-1.‘I think we’ve shown already this season that we never know when we are beat.‘We got back into it and from then on we kept on getting better and better and everyone across the pitch was working for each other and doing the hard yards.‘That’s what this team is so about. We work so hard in training every day so that when a setback happens, we are all prepared for it, we believe in each other and I think that’s what will stand us in good stead.‘We know we had it in us, we’ve showed it before this season and to do it again was great.’
Chelsea will now face West Ham United at Kingsmeadow in our semi-final on 3/4 February and Charles insists the Blues are determined to retain our Continental League Cup title.
She added: ‘We’ve said it all along we want to win everything, and especially being defending champions of this, we don’t want to let it go.
‘I think we showed here exactly what we are about and our intentions to keep on winning.’
Before our semi-final showdown with the Hammers, Chelsea have back-to-back away league fixtures starting with Bristol City on Sunday and Charles insists the Blues will not be underestimating The Robins, who currently sit at the bottom of the league standings.She added: ‘I think that’s one of the big things this season, every game is going to be a test and every team is getting better and better in the league.‘The league is so much closer and that’s a credit to the English league and where the league is now so we will be expecting another tough game again on Sunday.’