Winning streak continues as Blues reach last four
Pompey Ladies progressed to the semi-finals of the Premier League Cup with a 3-2 victory at Nottingham Forest.
They had to fight back from behind after Andi Bell beat the offside trap to fire the hosts into the lead midway through the first half.
But the Blues immediately hit back to equalise when Molly Clark’s free-kick was headed home by Leeta Rutherford at the far post.
And they forged ahead before the break thanks to a long-range effort from Sarah Kempson that took a slight deflection on its way past Vanessa Kinnerley.
Forest levelled right at the start of the second half, however, as Bell bagged her second goal of the afternoon.
But Ini Umotong came off the bench to grab the winner, continuing her fine scoring form by turning and firing a shot into the bottom corner.
Blues boss Perry Northeast said: “We didn’t perform particularly well and struggled to cope with Nottingham Forest’s direct style of play.
“Their first goal had been coming, but I pleased with the way we responded to immediately equalise and then take the lead.
“Unfortunately, their second arrived early in the second half – so early, in fact, that I was still in the changing room!
“But Ini came off the bench and did what she does best by scoring the winner and sending us into the last four.
“There’s certainly a lot for us to work on in training, but we showed a lot of graft to get the result – and that’s the main thing you’re looking for in cup football.
“When you get to this stage of the competition you start to think about winning it, although there are a lot of big sides at our level still in the mix
“But we’ve gone to two decent northern sides in different competitions in our last two games and beaten them both, so we’re full of confidence.
“Next up we host Poole in the Hampshire Cup semi-finals on Sunday. There’s some added spice to that because we could be in for a south coast derby final if both us and Southampton win our matches.”
Pompey: Blakely; Frampton, Rutherford, Currie (Sievwright 70), Bazan; Clark, Bloomfield, Kempson; Dark (Quinn 46), Wilson, Hillier (Umotong 51)
Pompey will host Millwall in the fourth round of the FA Women’s Cup on Sunday, March 8 after the Lionesses eased to a 3-0 victory over Lowestoft.