Five things we learned from Conti Cup Round Three

With clubs involved in Continental League Cup action over the weekend before a break for internationals and FA Cup ties, this weekend the league will have to wait.

But in its absence managers and players provided us plenty of entertainment to stock the shelves with until the league action returns.

Arsenal suffered a surprise defeat on penalties at the hands of Brighton as all three fixtures in Group B finished up with draws and spot kicks for bonus points.

Meanwhile Chelsea scraped a win over Lewes at the Dripping Pan and Manchester City earned a 2-1 win over Birmingham as Ellen White came back to haunt her former side.

And there were comfortable 3-0 victories for Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United while Durham maintained their 100 per cent record in the competition with a 4-0 win over Coventry United.

Whiter than White

Ballon d’Or nominated striker Ellen White had only a handful of minutes in a sky-blue shirt under her belt after she returned from injury in the 1-0 defeat at Arsenal but started as Nick Cushing’s side welcomed Birmingham City to the Academy Stadium.

And it took her just 50 minutes of her full debut to open the scoring and net for the first time since scoring in the World Cup semi-final defeat to USA in Lyon.

Lauren Hemp crossed for the Lionesses striker to finish from close range before Rachel Williams levelled for the Blues and Caroline Weir fired home a 25-yard winner.

Five on the spin

Casey Stoney’s Manchester United moved to five consecutive wins in all competitions with a 3-0 victory over Everton thanks to goals from Lauren James, Amy Turner and a Katie Zelem penalty.

United started life in the top flight with two defeats in a row but have not looked back since then hitting their stride ahead of a huge clash with FA WSL leaders Chelsea in their next game.

Spot the difference in Group B

It was a funny old weekend for the teams in Group B as all three fixtures ended in stalemates and were decided by penalties.

The Gunners started without midweek Champions League hat-trick scorers Danielle van de Donk and Vivianne Miedema and introduced them with ten minutes remaining, but the game ended in a 0-0 draw with Brighton winning 4-2 on penalties.

Charlie Wellings scored her first goal for Bristol City in response to Leanne Cowan’s first-half opener for London City Lionesses but the Robins could not avoid a 4-3 defeat in the resulting penalties.

Meanwhile at the Hive, London Bees and Charlton played out a stalemate before the hosts secured a bonus point with a 4-2 win on penalties.

Roodie on fire

Lewes’ road runner and New Zealand international Katie Rood has been struggling with injury this season but found enough fitness to start against Chelsea at the Dripping Pan.

And delivered the goods as she first picked the pocket of Millie Bright and raced through on goal, checked her run, steered the ball past a helpless Carly Telford in the Blues net to cancel out an earlier Erin Cuthbert strike.

Sadly for the south coast side Chelsea found a winner through Swedish skipper Magdalena Eriksson’s instinctive finish.

Hepple at the double

A Beth Hepple brace helped Durham continue their incredible 100 per cent record in the Conti Cup this season with a 4-0 win over Coventry United.

The Wildcats and Chelsea are now the only two teams left in the competitions with three wins from three largely thanks to who found the bottom corner from 25 yards and then scored a tap in before half time.