Hard work paying off for Salmon.

With the scoreboard all locked up Twerton Park either side needed a moment of inspiration to break the deadlock, up stepped Ebony Salmon with two goals in three minutes.

The first saw her race onto a through ball from Wellings, cut inside the onrushing N’dow and coolly curl the ball past Rogers in the Villa net.

Blink and you’d miss the second. Wellings again the provider as she hooked on Håland’s flat goal kick to set Salmon through on goal and with great composure she rounded the ‘keeper and poked the ball into an empty net.

The forward believes last night’s result can be a springboard for the Robins as they enter the second half of the season.

“I think we have come in from Christmas really positive and that has shown on the pitch today, said Salmon.

“We were disappointed that our game at the weekend was postponed, but we came into tonight with a lot of confidence and having a place in the semi-final is going to be a great opportunity for us, so I’m glad we managed to get there.

“I had a few opportunities that I didn’t take in the first half. Coming out for the second I knew that I was going to have to take them if they came to me."

Salmon now has six goals in all competitions for the 2020/21 campaign with eleven league games to play as well as both FA Continental Cup and Vitality Women’s FA Cup competitions.

“I have been working on those situations in training with Marco, the assistant manager, so it’s great that I got the opportunity to finish them off and show that all the hard work is paying off.

“We haven’t had the best start to the league, and we all know that. The one thing that we did need to help push us on for the rest of the season was confidence and I think we’ve got that tonight, so hopefully we can carry that forward into the back