Notts County Ladies 1 - 2 Everton Ladies

It had to come to an end at some point. After Notts County Ladies’ excellent start to the season, a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Everton sees the Lady Pies fall at the FA Cup semi-final stage and record their first loss of the new campaign.

The home side – kind of – began the game on the front foot, Dunia Susi weaving through a series of Everton tackles, but her tame shot was collected by Toffees goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis.

The visitors took the lead in the 13th minute against the run of play, as Nikita Parris latched onto a corner kick to head past Carly Telford.

Shocked by the early goal concession, Notts strove for an equaliser straight away, and came close to striking back through Jess Clarke and Rachel Corsie.

Things were to get worse for the Lady Pies, sadly. Just before the half-hour mark, Telford’s mistake allowed Parris to poke home for the second goal of the game, both individually and for her team.

It didn’t take long for Notts to have the ball in the back of the net, but Brown-Finnis was pardoned by the referee, who cited “unlawful pressure” for the fact that she dropped a clanger by spilling the sphere into her net.

The Toffees keeper, to her credit, did make a good save at the end of the first half to deny Amy Turner a goal.

The second half saw Notts pull a goal back through Katie Hoyle, who latched onto Katie Holtham’s flick-on just before the hour mark to send the ball into the Everton net.

Clarke, whose scoring record so this season has been outstanding, attempted a long-range effort midway through the second period, but sadly was denied by the post.

The resolute Toffees defence wasn’t to be breached again, and at the final whistle, it was the Merseyside outfit that would find themselves into the FA Cup final at the expense of the beleaguered Notts Ladies.