Burnley FC Women drawn at home to Liverpool in Women's FA Cup

Millie Ravening, Katie Thomas and Lizzy Hamer were all on the scoresheet for the Clarets in the first half, before Fylde scored twice to make it a nervy finale.

In sub-zero temperatures at Fylde’s Kellamergh Park, the cup tie took a while to heat up, but when Burnley clicked into gear in the 21st minute, they caught fire.

Moments after initially seeing a shot from range go wide, midfielder Ravening took aim once more and this time curled the ball into the bottom corner of the net to hand her side the advantage.

Forward Evie Priestley then rattled the underside of the crossbar with a flick header from close range, before she turned provider for strike partner Thomas to get the Clarets’ second goal soon after.

Priestley raced into the area and fired the ball across the six-yard box for Thomas to tap home into an empty net.

And three minutes later, midfielder Hamer made it 3-0 with an inch-perfect lob over Fylde goalkeeper Savannah Smith.

Ravening was involved again, with Hamer latching onto her through ball to get her effort away.

It could have been four before the break, with Priestley and Thomas proving a constant thorn in the side of the Coasters’ defence, though Burnley had to settle for a scoreline of 3-0.

As it had done prior to kick off, snow fell at the start of the second half, though the pitch at Kellamergh Park held up well.

Hamer almost got her second of the afternoon not long after the restart, improvising quickly to test Smith with an effort flicked off her heel when she reacted to Courtney Willis’ initial shot at goal.

Hosts Fylde had beaten the Clarets in league action earlier in the campaign, and began to cause Burnley some issues as the hour-mark approached.

Having enjoyed a spell of possession and pressure, Jess Holbrook gave the Coasters a lifeline with her goal, before Priestley rattled the woodwork again at the other end, hitting the post.

Fylde got a second of the afternoon through Amy Hughes 15 minutes from time and continued to apply pressure on the Burnley backline, but Matt Bee’s side held firm and got the victory to take them through into the next round.

Bee said: “Tactically, we approached the game in the way that we wanted to, we knew the principles of how we wanted to attack the tie and we looked the better side by a distance in the first half.

“For the way that the team applied themselves, followed the game plan and how they approached the game overall, they deserve immense credit because they were fantastic.”

Burnley will host Liverpool on Sunday, December 12th.