Watford Ladies midfielder Merrick Will focused on the positives of the first-half performance and the opportunity to takes on one of the best teams in the women’s game following last night’s 6-0 Continental Cup drubbing at the hands of Arsenal.

A crowd of 823 watched on at Kings Langley as Will spurned an early chance to make the breakthrough for the hosts, who trailed by only one goal at the break.

But the Women’s Super League big guns made their class tell after the break as England striker Jodie Taylor doubled her tally in the comprehensive win which took Arsenal top of their group and secured a quarter-final berth.

“It was a really good first 45 minutes from us and it's such a good opportunity to face one of the best teams in Europe,” said Will.

“It was good for the girls to try and relish the opportunity, despite the scoreline because girls of that class are bound to score goals and some of them were the sort that we couldn't do anything about.

“There were some from our mistakes, which we're going to look to try and improve on.

“But it was a good first 45 minutes and that's what we'll try to focus on because for a good 45 minutes I thought we matched them.”

Will’s early opportunity to give the Hornets a shock lead came when Natalie Murray found her teammate in plenty of space, but she put the opening over the top.

Arsenal made the most of surviving that scare by taking the lead in the 15th minute, as Emma Mitchell's low ball from the left gave Taylor the simplest of finishes.

The Gunners doubled their lead within a minute of the restart, with Taylor's pass finding Lisa Evans in space and her low cross was tapped in by Danielle Carter at the far post.

Arsenal's third arrived just before the hour mark, as Leah Williamson helped the ball into the penalty area and Mitchell turned before finding the bottom corner.

There then followed three superb finishes within four minutes of each other, as Dominique Janssen swept first-time into the top corner from Lauren James' corner.

Before Watford had recovered, Janssen's fellow Dutchwoman Danielle van de Donk launched a superb effort from just inside the box that sailed over Fran Kitching.

Taylor, who had earlier missed an open goal, then completed the victory with her second of the night with a fine shot from distance with 12 minutes left.

Watford Ladies: Kitching; Sargeant (Fatuga-Dada 64), McCarthy, Jones, McKeag; Nuttall (Ward 74), Maple (Petkova 68); Will, Puddefoot, Babajide; Murray. Subs not used: Baranowska, Albert, Kerr, Bell.