Following our 5-0 win over West Ham in the Women's Super League on Sunday, our cup campaign got underway against Championship oppositon, with Aggie Beever-Jones netting her third goal in as many games to give Sonia Bompastor's side the lead after 21 minutes at Kingsmeadow,.

A stunning strike from Oriane Jean-Francois doubled our lead just after the hour mark, before three quickfire goals inside a four-minute period from Erin Cuthbert, Guro Reiten and Maika Hamano made it 5-0 by the 77th minute.

The emphatic win against Durham means the Blues will now play West Ham at home on 5/6 February in the League Cup semi-finals.

Bompastor's Blues are unbeaten in all four of the competitions that we have featured in this season, with our impressive run currently stretching to 19 matches.

Changes made for cup clash

Bompastor rung the changes against Durham, making seven alterations from our WSL victory against West Ham. Zecira Musovic, Ashley Lawrence, Maelys Mpome, Jean-Francois, Reiten, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd and Hamano were all introduced to the starting XI.

The first opportunity of the match fell to Hamano inside the opening few minutes who unleashed a powerful strike from distance that was pushed away from danger by an outstretched Durham goalkeeper Tatiana Saunders.

It didn't take long for the Blues to call Saunders into action again as moments later Reiten saw a header gathered by the goalkeeper. The move started with a corner before being worked out to Beever-Jones on the right side and she sent a dangerous-looking cross into the box that tonight's captain connected with.

Mpome went so close to her first Chelsea goal, which would have been aided by a Durham deflection, when she rose highest at a corner and saw her header come back off the woodwork.

Moments later, a nice bit of play from Rytting Kaneryd saw the Swedish international cut the ball back from the byline, finding an awaiting Jean-Francois who then had her shot cleared off the line.

A quickly taken free-kick saw the Blues break forward from inside our own half, with the ball eventually finding Lawrence down the right flank. She sent the ball into the box and it was deflected by a Durham defender before reaching Beever-Jones, with the forward heading home to give us the lead.

It was almost two when Hamano was picked out by Charles, before letting a strike from the edge of the box fly, but, she was denied by the hands of Saunders who clawed the ball out of the air and then gathered it.

Beever-Jones had the ball in the back of the net just before the half-hour mark as she tapped it into the back of an empty net after receiving it from Rytting Kaneryd, but the winger was adjudged to be offside before sending it into the area.

A stramash inside the box from a corner saw Mpome have another go, but she saw her strike blocked before midfielder Jean-Francois' effort was pushed past the post by visiting goalkeeper Saunders.

The Blues soon fashioned another opportunity and this time it fell to Rytting Kaneryd, who had so often been the creater of chances thus far in the first half. A super ball from Charles found the winger at the back post, but she sliced her effort just wide.

In the dying stages of the first half, Charles sent another delightful ball into the box and this time picked out Sjoeke Nusken. The midfielder looked to net our second with a volley on the inside of her left foot, but it dropped the wrong side of the post.

Looking to extend our lead

A lovely move saw the Blues create the first opportunity of the second half. Smart feet from half-time substiute Wieke Kaptein saw her find Reiten to her left, with the Norwegian international flashing her strike just wide of the far post.

After the visitors won their first corner of the match in the 50th minute, Bompastor's side looked to hit Durham on the counterattack. Nusken played it out to Kaptein who then slotted a through ball into the feet of Beever-Jones, who saw her effort blocked by Ella Wilson.

Kaptein was inches away from doubling our advantage as the hour mark approached, however, she hit her strike from close range wide after recieving the ball from Reiten inside the box.

That second goal did soon arrive, though, and what a stunning effort it was. From a corner, the ball found its way to Jean-Francois on the edge of the box and she fired it into the top left corner on the half volley to give the Blues a deserved 2-0 lead.

Our third goal arrived just over ten minutes later and it was substiute Cuthbert, who also scored on her 250th Chelsea appearance in our last match prior to Durham, who got herself on the scoresheet. The Scot was unmarked in the box and headed home a Lawrence cross.

A fine stop from Durham goalkeeper Riley Foster, who replaced Saunders at half-time, denied Chelsea goal number four when she made a diving save to divert subsitute Catarina Macario's strike past the post.

But from the resulting corner, it was soon 4-0 as captain Reiten fired home from only a couple yards out after Durham failed to clear the danger.

Play had barely restarted when Hamano got in on the goalscoring action. It was another stunning strike, with the Japanese international sending a lofted effort from the right flank over the top of goalkeeper Foster which dropped into the back of the net for our fifth.

Those quickfire goals ensured a comfortable end to the encounter, with the Blues now having a cup semi-final clash to look forward to.

What it means

A win in the quarter-finals means Chelsea will contest the League Cup semi-final against either Spurs or West Ham at home on February 5/6, with full details to be confirmed in due course.

What next

We are back in action on Sunday at Stamford Bridge where we are set to host London rivals Arsenal in the WSL. You can buy your tickets for the derby clash here!

The teams

Chelsea: Musovic; Lawrence, Bjorn (Perisset 66), Mpome, Charles (Bernabe 63), Nusken (Cuthbert 63), Jean-Francois, Reiten, Rytting Kaneryd (Kaptein 46), Hamano, Beever-Jones (Macario 63)
Unused substitutes: Hampton, Bronze, Bright, Ramirez
Scorers: Beever-Jones 21, Jean-Francois 61, Cuthbert 73, Reiten 75, Hamano 77

Durham: Saunders (R Foster 46); Ayre, M Foster (Hepple 65), S Wilson, Holmes, E Wilson, Crosthwaite (Lambert 65), Novak, Bradley (Salicki 46), Blake (Johns 74), Ryan-Doyle
Booked: E Wilson 22