Georgie Giddings fired a late contender for goal of the season as Chelsea’s campaign ended with an emphatic 4-0 rout of Blackburn Rovers at Imber Court on Sunday.

Giddings’ blast from 25 yards added to earlier strikes from Lianne Sanderson and Emma Whitter, before Dunia Susi completed the scoring in stoppage time.

Defender Shelby Hills also put in another assured performance, which suggests the Blues will be a team to watch next time around.

“It’s really important that the reserves and the youth of the club come through,” said player-manager Casey Stoney.

“It’s been a challenging season to say the least, with the change of manager, but it’s ended really positively, with some really good performances - from not only the team, but from the young girls.

“They’ve performed fantastically and are the future,” she added. “God knows where I’m going to play next season.”

Giddings had a sniff of goal in the early stages with a shot she dragged wide, but it was Rovers’ Karen Burke who almost put Chelsea ahead with a slice over Krystal Parker’s bar.

Danni Buet then drove straight at Parker following pinball in the Blackburn box, while at the other end, ex-Everton star Amy Kane brought out a superb stop from Siobhan Chamberlain.

The opener came midway through the first half.

Whitter spotted Sanderson in space and the England player clinically stroked the ball past Parker to give Chelsea the advantage at the break.

Stoney almost embarrassingly doubled Chelsea’s lead minutes into the second half.

As she returned the ball to Parker following a Blackburn injury, the Chelsea boss over hit her pass and was mightily relieved when the ball soared narrowly off target.

Kane was a constant threat for Rovers and she almost benefited when Chamberlain was sold slightly short by Sophie Perry’s back-header and then found the Chelsea keeper equal to another fierce drive.

But as the half wore on, Chelsea took control.

Whitter burst through the Rovers right on 65 minutes and with the Lancashire side anticipating a pass to Sanderson, she thumped the ball past Parker.

Buet and Laura Cooper wasted two good opportunities to extend the Blues’ lead minutes after the restart, but the third came seconds later in style.

With Chelsea massing in the visitors’ area, the ball was pushed out to Giddings some 25 yards out and after taking a touch, she let fly with a knee-high shot that whistled past the Blackburn keeper.

To their credit, Blackburn refused to lie down as the season ticked away.

Nikki Harding put the predatory Kane clean through, but Chamberlain again came out on top in the one-on-one.

The sight of Perry in the opponent’s 18-yard box illustrated Chelsea’s dominance and the defender was left holding her head following Parker’s great diving save.

A fourth was no more than the Blues deserved and it came two minutes into stoppage time.

Sub Sarah Kempson got behind the Rovers’ back line and her far post cross was met by the unmarked Susi who headed home.

Blackburn were denied a late consolation by the referee who inexplicably stopped play for a Rovers free kick when Kane was shaping to shoot, and the curtain came down on both teams’ season seconds later.

With third place in the Premier League and two cup semi-final defeats, Stoney is looking for progress in the next.

“We’ve got to set our expectations high,” she said. “Our targets have got to be to compete for every trophy and there’s no reason why we can’t.”

In the meantime, the European Championships take place in Finland during the summer, and Stoney, Sanderson and Buet are all expected to feature.

“Our first thoughts are to get out of the group,” said the Chelsea manager. “But we definitely think this is a year where we can compete.

“We want to be in a final, and if we’re in the final, we want to win it.”