Scott Phelan praised his side’s efforts in Everton Women’s defeat at the hands of Chelsea but conceded the Blues lacked the quality needed against Sonia Bompastor’s team, who produced a ruthless second half display at Goodison Park to secure all three points.
A competitive first half saw two goals in the opening ten minutes, with Yuka Momiki producing a moment of magic from 30 yards to cancel out Sam Kerr’s opener four minutes earlier.
The sides went in at the break level, but after Maz Pacheco’s effort
cannoned off the upright the reigning champions showed their ruthlessness as Kerr netted her second seconds after, before strikes from Ellie Carpenter and Erin Cuthbert completed the scoring at the Grand Old Lady.
And while the effort was clear to see for Phelan, who gave an honest assessment of playing a team with real quality that the Blues couldn’t match.
“Our thoughts are we expected a tough game and it turned out that way. I thought first half we were competitive, to a level. We went in at 1-1, but I think that the most important thing was the timing of the goals,” said the Everton boss.
“We had an opportunity when he hit the crossbar at 1-1, then by 53 minutes we were 3-1 down.
“Against the best players in the league, they are ruthless and they put you to the sword, and what was already a tough task, like it would be for any team, made it a bit too tough for us.
“There wasn’t a lack of effort in there, maybe a lack of quality and execution, but in the effort, that is something the players can give as a minimum and that is what we expect, and they have done that today.
“We just fell short against a really good team.”
With Everton legend Leighton Baines and current Men’s Senior Team player Merlin Rohl in attendance, the Blues will have been encouraged by their showing in the first 45, only to see that hope extinguished as Cuthbert completed the scoring on 70 minutes.
Everton kept going despite the game being over as contest and the crowd witnessed history as Phlean handed a debut to Laila Harbert, who replaced Momiki with five minutes of normal time remaining.
Another break is now on the horizon for Phelan’s side, before attention turns to the Blues’ trip to the capital to face Arsenal on Wednesday 13 May at 7pm BST ( 2pm ET, 11am PT ).
