Manager Willie Kirk said it was a “professional job well done” as Everton rounded off their Continental Cup campaign with a comfortable 4-0 win over Championship side Leicester City.

The hosts’ first-half resilience was finally broken by Chaney Boye-Hlorkah on 44 minutes as she escaped the onrushing keeper to fire into an empty net.

Elise Hughes doubled the lead straight after the interval, before Taylor Hinds and Inessa Kaagman completed the victory.

“It was professional from us,” Blues boss Kirk told evertonfc.com. “It was one of those games where you can never really get any credit. A narrow win and people say Leicester have done well but a big victory is expected.

“It was professional enough, although there were a couple of moments in the first half where they took a bit of encouragement. But it was job done in the end.”

Kirk had used the game – a dead rubber as both Everton and Leicester had already been eliminated from the competition – to rotate his side, with a number of Regional Talent Centre players stepping up into the first-team squad.

Defender Hannah Coen gave a composed performance as part of a back three, with Aimee Kelly stepping off the bench for a late cameo.

“It is always good to bring some of the young ones through,” added Kirk.

“They have been training with us for a while now, coming in a few times a week.

“They have got to come in and try to take their chance and show what they have got. I thought Hannah, who played the full 90 minutes, did really well, and Aimee got a little taste of it in the last half hour.

“The chance to rotate also meant we can keep the team as fresh as possible for Sunday [against Arsenal].

“Players have played one or the other in terms of the last two fixtures and the ones that have played both we have tried to restrict their workload as much as possible. So we should go into Sunday really fresh.”

Everton return to WSL action when they host the Gunners at Southport in what is their final game of 2019. Kick-off at Pure Stadium is at 12.30pm.