Watford Ladies were able to hold their heads high after being knocked out of the SSE Women’s FA Cup after they were beaten 3-0 by Manchester City.

The Citizens are currently top of the Women’s Super League and have not lost a domestic game all season. They picked up another win courtesy of two second half goals from substitute Nikita Parris and one from Pauline Bremner, but the Golden Girls could take pride in their performance against one of the biggest guns in the women's game.

Head Coach Armand Kavaja opted to make two changes to the team that lost to Plymouth Argyle Ladies last time out, with Helen Ward returning from international duty and Hattie Kettle starting at centre-back.

A busy first half saw Weronika Baranowska make some important stops, including one from Keira Walsh after just seven minutes.

The visitors had the chance to start an unlikely upset after 20 minutes, when Samantha Hallsworth clipped a shot goalwards, but instead she found the back post with her effort.

City strengthened their resolve after that and Baranowska was called on to make a couple more saves before Bremer crashed a header against the bar.

The home side then had the ball in the back of the net, but the Hornets were spared by the assistant referee’s flag and the sides went in level at the break.

With the game moving towards a stalemate, City introduced Parris just after the hour mark and she made an impact just three minutes later when she strayed beyond the Watford defence and found the bottom corner.

Just seven minutes later Parris got her second after she latched onto Jess Park’s inventive pass and left Watford with a mountain to climb against arguably the best side in the country.

The game was wrapped up in stoppage time when Bremer added a third and sent the Hornets out of the competition, knowing they were simply beaten by the better team.