Bristol 4 BCLFC 2
The game was over after Bristol coasted to a 3-0 lead inside 16 minutes, but they could have been a goal down after just three minutes when Becky Hall’s trickery worked room for a cross which Amy McCann headed wide.
Seconds later Wales ace Gwennan Harries got behind the Birmingham defence on the right and bore down on goal before firing a left footed rising drive across an exposed Sue Wood and into the roof of the net.
Birmingham skipper Heather Scheuber’s tenacity allowed her to retrieve a Crissy Torkildsen through-ball but the midfielder’s trademark swerving effort dipped narrowly over the top right corner.
And with nine minutes on the clock Blues were two down, Kerys Harrop harshly penalised to the right of goal before a whipped in free-kick from midfielder Stef Curtis - fresh off the plane from Ireland duty - which should have been straightforward for Wood but dropped through the goalkeeper’s hands.
An increasingly shaky Blues were buried seven minutes later when Justine Lorton swerved a 20-yard free-kick over and around a four-man wall and into the top left corner.
Birmingham belatedly roused themselves and came back into the game with McCann and Harrop having half chances after the break and Kerry Bartlett going close for the hosts.
Scheuber was agonisingly close with a 25-yard dipping effort in the 59th minute but within moments it was 4-0 as Harries again got behind Blues on the right, hurdling a recovery tackle by Katy Ward before finishing, this time with her right foot, across Wood from 20 yards.
Three minutes later Corinne Yorston’s headed clearance from a Ward corner was dangerously close to finding her own net in Birmingham’s best chance.
Three minutes from time Lynch dropped a 40-yard ball out of defence and Gauntlett was first to it, robbing onrushing keeper Rachel Simkin before coolly lofting the ball over her into the net.
The consolation briefly looked as though it may spark a comeback as Lynch added a second two minutes into added time when Ward’s flag-kick went over Simkin and McCann for the Coventry defender to stoop and head in at the far post but it proved too little, too late.
Teams; Bristol: Rachel Simkin; Marie O’Brien, Corinne Yorston, Emma Jones, Michelle Green (Shelly Cox, HT), Stef Curtis (Angela Tinson, 60mins), Kerry Bartlett, Justine Lorton, Gwennan Harries (Helen Wood, 80), Kerrie Manley; Grace McCatty. Subs not used: Danni Ackerman, Kirsty Richardson.
Blues: Sue Wood; Faye Cardin (Jenni Foster, 74), Nat Lynch, Kerys Harrop, Katy Ward; Milly Durrant (Penny Andrea, 69), Crissy Torkildsen, Heather Scheuber, Becky Hall (Keeley Lowe, 69); Amy McCann, Maz Gauntlett.
