Everton’s interim manager Chris Roberts had paid tribute to former forward Elise Hughes ahead of his side’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup fifth round tie against Charlton Athletic this weekend.
Everton roots deep into Hughes’ family circle and she spent the early days of her career in the club’s Regional Talent Centre (RTC) before going on to feature for the first team. Hughes went onto make 22 appearances for Everton in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League before leaving the club last summer.
Hughes could feature for new club Charlton Athletic when the second tier side take on Everton in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup at The Oakwood on Sunday. Ahead of the match, Everton boss Roberts was full of praise for the youngster.
“Elise has been a fantastic product of a great academy that we have here at the club,” Roberts said when speaking to FAWSL Full-Time. “The decision that Elise made to pursue regular football seems to have been a positive one because she is getting regular minutes.
“We all know how Elise plays but that doesn’t mean she’s easy to stop, she’s very effective at what she does and I really enjoyed my time working with her. I hope that I enjoy playing against her this weekend and we get the better of her throughout the game.
“I have so much respect for Elise, as do all of the players here. Apart from this weekend, I will always want her to do well and I wish her the best.”
With Everton out of form and Charlton Athletic unbeaten in 10 games in all competitions, the gap in quality may not be all that visible this weekend. Roberts said that he is not judging The Addicks based on their current league position.
He said “The FA Cup is special, you almost need to forget about the difference in leagues and you need to treat them with respect. They have 11 players on the park just like we do.
“It is up to us to manage the game. We need to gain momentum in the game and stamp our authority where we can and turn opportunities into goals. We want to do our talking on the pitch, try not to look at them too much in terms of the Championship because their run of form is very good and you have to beat that as well as them.”
The Vitality Women’s FA Cup fifth round tie between Charlton Athletic and Everton kicks-off at 1pm on Sunday.
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