Manchester City Women completed their comeback in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. City came from 2-0 to win the tie 3-2 and book their place at Wembley at the end of the month.
Chelsea Women vs Manchester City Women Match Summary
Chelsea were quick off the mark with Erin Cuthbert who opened the scoring in eight minutes on her 300th appearance for the Blues. Alyssa Thompson was dispossessed just on the edge of the box and Cuthbert ran onto the ball to slot it past Khiara Keating.
Chelsea could have had the second within two minutes. Ellie Carpenter did well to get a cross off into Sam Kerr who converted. However, the official deemed the ball went out of play, maybe more controversially.
Laura Blindkilde-Brown’s shot from 25 yards out took a deflection on its way in. This forced Hannah Hampton into a fingertip save in the top right of the net. Chelsea went into the break leading by one goal.
Chelsea continued to dominate and control the game and doubled their lead in the 59th minute. Lauren James’ looping cross came into the box and was spilled by Keating. Kerr was there to head it home.
Fortunes changed for City after the introduction of Mary Fowler. It took her just 90 seconds to change the game for City. It was sloppy at the back from Chelsea who allowed Fowler to turn, get herself on the edge of the box and shoot from distance.
That goal gave City a change in momentum. With seven minutes added on in the second half, Bunny Shaw was able to get her first shot on target, and her first goal. The ball is crossed is and substitute Iman Beney tipped a header over the top into Shaw who scrambled it home.
The equaliser meant that City had pushed Chelsea to extra time where Shaw would get her second and the winner. The clearnce away from Hampton fell straight back to Yui Hasagawa on the left hand side who was able to cross the ball back in to mee the head of Shaw to give City the lead, and the ticket to the FA Cup final.
Key Tactical Turning Point
City struggled for 80 minutes, which is incredibly rare to see. The substitutions of both Beney and Fowler brought great momentum to City who were able to turn the result around. Chelsea struggled to deal with this increase in momentum from the substitutes. They crumbled in the last 10 minutes of normal time.
Standout Performances
Chelsea Women – Sam Kerr: As noted in our preview of this game, Sam Kerr was always going to be a threat after re-finding her goalscoring form. Kerr could have had a hat trick in this game after having two goals disallowed. One for offside and the other for the ball being out of play. She now has 19 goals in 17 appearances in the Women’s FA Cup.
Manchester City Women – Iman Beney: Having been introduced in the 66th minute, she was the fire City needed to carry them to victory. She assisted the first two goals in normal time which led to the game progressing to extra time in the first place and kept City in the game.
What the Result Means
This result means that City are still on track for the domestic double after winning the WSL on Wednesday night. They will meet Brighton and Hove Albion at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 31st May.
Manager Quotes
Manchester City boss Andree Jeglertz had this to say after his team completed the comeback.
“Having this tough game directly after [winning the league] was the best thing that could happen, where we can show we are a great team and we aren’t just satisfied with one title, we want the next one.”
“We did some changes, players coming in with new energy, we did some tactical changes but overall, the players’ mentality to never give up is why we’re here.”
Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor stated her team played well but lost control in the final ten minutes of normal time. “We had a good performance. We were leading the game at home 2-0. So on one hand, when you reflect on that part of the game, it was good. But on the other hand, when you concede three goals at home, that’s not good enough from us.
“When you lose control of the game in the last 10 minutes, that’s not the standard and the expectation at this club. We had a clear game plan before the game. We were able to execute that for 85 minutes, most of the time in a good way. We didn’t for the last 10 minutes.
“So when you are not disciplined at this level, it’s not good enough. Obviously, there are the mental aspects. You need to understand that at this level, when you are playing a game like that, you need to be smart in the last 10 minutes.”
