Sheffield United Women to face Manchester City in the fourth round of the Women's FA Cup after beating Nottingham Forest 3-0

The Blades booked their place for the bus trip over the Pennines with a convincing win over Nottingham Forest yesterday afternoon.

United put three second half goals past Forest with no reply, thanks to Courtney Sweetman-Kirk, Bex Rayner and Mia Enderby, and Bethan Davies’ clean-sheet.

The result came as a welcome boost for United, who have lost their last eight games in the Championship.

“We definitely needed it,” said Sweetman-Kirk.

“I’ll admit I gave the girls a bit of a rocket at half time, but they took it well. It’s what we needed.

“We needed to be patient.”

The Blades missed chances in the opening period, before knuckling down and to take the game by the scruff of the neck after the restart.

“They deserved it,” said interim head coach Luke Turner of the result.

“Second half we were a lot better than the first half.

“I thought the first 20 minutes we dominated without being clinical enough in creating chances.”

The first half ended goalless, but just two minutes after the restart Courtney Sweetman-Kirk swivelled onto a ball run in down the right by Mia Enderby and fired home.

Bex Rayner sent the ball into the top corner from the edge of the box to double United’s lead in the 53rd minute.

And 20 minutes later Enderby slid in to grab the third from a ball sent to the back post by Rhema Lord-Mears.

The Blades will face the Citizens on January 29 at the City Football Academy.