Aston Villa Women were beaten 4-0 by Chelsea Women at the Banks's Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Sam Kerr opened the scoring early on, before Beth England, Pernille Harder and Magdalena Eriksson also notched to add further gloss to the scoreline.
Despite the result, Villa will take encouragement from their overall competitveness and defensive structure throughout the encounter.
Marcus Bignot opted for a change in formation for his first game in interim charge.
What looked like a 3-5-2 setup was selected in an attempt to frustrate the star-studded visitors, but Villa's resistance was broken inside three minutes.
Following a lofted ball into the Villa box from Chelsea, Nat Haigh's headed clearance only went as far as Sam Kerr on the edge of the area.
The Australian international wasted no time in striking a thunderous half-volley into the roof of the net to get the Blues off to the best possible start.
The remainder of the first half was an evenly-fought one, with neither side creating anything of note.
Or so it seemed, as on 35 minutes, Kerr turned provider and crossed in from the right for Beth England to powerfully head home.
The goal was a suckerpunch for Bignot's side, who had put in a disciplined display up to that point, all things considered.
Villa once again emerged from the break with the right intent and the right desire, but were undone by two quickfire goals that well and truly put the game to bed.
Pernille Harder drilled one in from the edge of the area, before Magdalena Eriksson stabbed home a teasing free-kick to add some gloss to the scoreline for the Blues.
Villa return to action on Sunday against Arsenal. Kick-off is at 2pm (GMT).
Villa: Weiß, Ale, N'Dow, Asante, Haigh, Hayles (Siems 46'), Ewers (C) (West 62'), Haywood (Follis 76'), Hanssen (Silva 84'), Iwabuchi, Larsen
Unused Subs: Rogers, Hutton, Syme, McLoughlin
Goals: Kerr (3'), England (35'), Harder (68'), Eriksson (70')
