And that’s all from me – thanks for reading!
Here’s Suzanne Wrack’s match report from Wembley:
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Steph Houghton leads her teammates up the Wembley steps and hoists the cup in jubilation. That’s their second cup win in two years – and a well-deserved win, City were superb in the second half.
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And a triumphant City boss Nick Cushing: “We said at half-time, we were playing the occasion a little bit, we were a bit nervy and desperate in the final third. Second half, though, we settled down. [On Georgia Stanway] She just loves football. She plays like she probably did when she was 10 years old, and as a manager you just have to throw her out there. As a team, we’ll look at why we didn’t win the league, learn from it, and make sure we challenge hard again next year.”
And here’s City skipper Steph Houghton: “It’s a great feeling to come here to Wembley and win the cup. We didn’t play well first half, but after that we showed we’re ruthless and got the job done. We’ve got a group of winners, people that want to learn and improve – a great blend of youth and experience. We remain unbeaten this season, one more game to go, and we want to complete that. We’re a club that wants to develop youth. Hopefully there’s more trophies to come for me besides this – but I’m going to enjoy this one.”
Georgia Stanway gets the player of the match gong. “It’s unbelievable,” she beams. “To get the win top its off. The cup final an incredible day – everyone wants to be a part of it and I’m lucky I did. I’ve imagined this so many times. I think I tried a bit too hard at times today, but in the end it came off. We’re a team that thrive under pressure. Big players come out in big games. The players, the staff, have showed up today to give us the win. It’s a huge honour to get the trophy.”
Full time: Man City 3-0 West Ham
And that’s that. The archetypal game of two halves: West Ham held out gallantly for the first 45 minutes and looked well capable of spring a serious surprise – they could have gone in 1-0 up. But City game out after the interval a different, and made their class count.
90+1 mins: Hemp steams clear again and rattles the post with a low drive – a hell of a cameo from her. West Ham need the final whistle here.
Goal! Man City 3-0 West Ham (Hemp)
Another moment to forget for Moorhouse, punished with remorseless calm by Lauren Hamp. The City substitute is set haring down the left, almost on the touchline, but without support. Moorhouse’s rash decision to race off her line – she had no chance of getting there – makes up the attacker’s mind: she guides a lovely left-foot finish past the stranded keeper into an empty net.
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87 mins: Hail Mary time from West Ham, whose centre-back and captain Flaherty is acting as a makeshift centre-forward. She gets herself on the end of a cross, too, in a rare Hammers attack but her header is miscued well over.
85 mins: City make a change, Emslie on for Weir.
83 mins: Stanways picks up the ball in an identical position and turn on a sixpence to leave Flaherty with twisted blood. She rifles a left-foot shot at goal, turned away by Moorhouse at the near post.
Goal! Man City 2-0 West Ham (Stanway)
It’s been coming. The squillionth City attack of the second half ends with Stanway collecting the ball in the inside left channel and picking her way past a small army of dead-on-their-feet defenders. Her low drive creeps inside Moorhouse’s far post.
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79 mins: More last-ditch stuff from West Ham as Stanway, fed by a tireless Stokes, marauds into the box only to be stopped in her tracks by a glorious tackle from Percival. The defender strides out with the ball, leaving Stanway in a crumpled heap behind her. Marvellous defending.
76 mins: An unmarked Stanway nods wide, meeting a lovely floated cross from Wullaert. Then Wullaert makes inroads into the box again, sidestepping her marker with nifty footwork, but can’t find a teammate.
74 mins: Moorhouse to the rescue again, this time getting a foot in the way of Weir’s goalbound shot. Stanway collects the loose ball and lashes wide. West Ham look exhausted – the killer blow is coming.
70 mins: Good chance for West Ham, who somehow find themselves steaming away in a two-on-one break. Kiernan squares to Lehmann, who briefly looks to be clean through but a combination of a less-then-perfect pass and a hesitant first touch allows City defenders to get back, and in the end the Austrian’s drive from distance is comfortably gathered by Bardsley.
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69 mins: The first clearcut chance for Parris end with a semi-redemptive save from Moorhouse. Scott wins the ball in midfield, plays in Parris whose run is timed to perfection, but her driven shot is palmed away by the West Ham keeper, who stood her ground superbly.
66 mins: An instant impact from Kiernan, who spins away from her marker and releases Percival on West Ham’s right. Her cross is headed authoritatively away by Houghton.
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64 mins: Another West Ham change, the lively attacker Kiernan coming on for Ross, desperately unlucky not to break the deadlock in the first half.
61 mins: More danger from City, again down their right. McManus wafts in a cross from City and the shaken Moorhouse flaps at it unconvincingly. Then Stanway, chacing the rebound, is brought down from behind for what should be a penalty – not given. West Ham send on Visalli for Rafferty.
60 mins: Jill Scott is booked for a shirt pull. She has been involved in everything for City in this opening hour.
57 mins: City react to going ahead in the manner of hardened champions: by looking to put the game to bed. Another wave of pressure ends when Stanway’s cross drifts behind, but the second goal will come if things continue this way. West Ham need to change something.
Goal! Man City 1-0 West Ham (Walsh)
A goal from nothing! Walsh picks up the ball 25 yards out, skips past her marker and unleashes a shot from distance. It’s fairly well struck but in truth this is a horrible mistake from Moorhouse, who is inexplicably wrongfooted, reacts late, and allows an eminently saveable effort to bounce over her into the net. There was no deflection on the shot, the keeper simply went the wrong way.
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49 mins: Stanway, who has been quiet so far, surges into the box down the right and delivers a dangerous cutback, but Parris and Walsh get in each others’ way and the latter drags her shot harmlessly wide. City turning the screw.
46 mins: Chance! Scott chances a lost cause into the City box and manages to divert the ball back to Weir, stood in acres of space 15 yards out. But again - much like Parris at the end of the first half - the shot is hurried, hasty, and sliced horribly high.
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The second half is under way
Play resumes under heavy rain, which could well affect things during this vital next 45 minutes. Steph Houghton heaves a long punt forward before Dani Stokes forages down the left flank. City in control: normal service resumed.
Half-time
Goalless at the break, and it’s been cagey stuff from both sides. The only real chance came to West Ham, Bardsley denying Ross with a tremendous save, but otherwise both sets of attackers have been feeding off scraps. City’s have seen a lot more of the ball, but have done far too little with it. West Ham have defended well enough, but haven’t been truly tested.
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44 mins: Half-chance. Scott makes headway down the right again and puts in a low cross. It’s harmless, but a shanked clearance from Flaherty falls at the feet of Parris, 10 yards out in a crowded box. She rather snatches at her shot, which flies wildly over.
39 mins: Jill Scott scampers into the box and, on the stretch, gets a shot away – but it’s smothered by a lunging Rafferty and cannons out for a corner. City reasserting their authority now.
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34 mins: That chance has given West Ham belief. Another attack sees the ball flicked inches wide of the post, albeit by an offside attacker, before an extended spell of pressure ends with a clumsy tackle from Jill Scott on Lehmann inside the box. No penalty - the right decision - but encouraging stuff from the underdogs.
29 mins: Magnificent save! And the game’s best move by a mile: Simon nicks the ball on the right, fires off a one-two and whips in an inch-perfect cross that Jane Ross meets with a downwards header. It hits the ground, and looks a certain goal – but Bardsley reacts in the blink of an eye to claws it off the line in the Gordon Banks-to-Pele style. Top quality all round.
23 mins: Parris wriggles into space on the edge of the box and, head down, hits a shot that’s blocked before it gets to goal. Had she spotted Stokes steaming past her on the overlap, that would’ve been the game’s first clear chance.
19 mins: Slowly but steadily, City are penning their opponents back. West Ham are defending very deeply, which leaves minimal space for the dangerous Parris to run into but does invite pressure. Another offside flag against Parris brings them temporary relief.
15 mins: Weir clatters Leon in the middle of the park with a heavy tackle. No card for the City winger, who is soon ambling up the left flank and picking out Walsh, whose shot is blocked.
11 mins: Nice play in midfield by Scott, who plucks the ball out of the air exquisitely and sends a probing pass out to the right. Lehmann responds with a cheeky nutmeg and a one-two down the same flank, but she can’t quite get behind the City defence.
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8 mins: Parris zooms away again, released on the inside right channel – and onside this time. For a second it looks like she’s clean through, but Flaherty makes up the ground impressively and puts in a wonderful last-ditch tackle. The corner comes to nothing.
6 mins: West Ham’s full-backs have seen plenty of the ball in the opening stages. Erin Simon finds space on the right and floats in a cross, but there’s no whip on it and Bardsley gathers.
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4 mins: Early warning for West Ham as possession is pounced on by Weir in midfield and Nikita Parris makes a darting run between the centre-backs. She’s flagged offside – it’s marginal – but it won’t be the first time she tries that run this afternoon.
2 mins: City get into their stride early, exchanging plenty of short passes in their own half before mounting the game’s first meaningful attack with a long ball out of defence, quickly snuffed out.
We're off!
After a lengthy team huddle apiece, Nikita Parris shuffles to the centre circle, Abigail Byrne sounds her whistle and it’s game on.
The teams march out. Game faces are affixed, fireworks are discharged and steely handshakes exchanged. Kickoff looms.
The pre-match chatter all is about how well West Ham have done to simply get here. “I just hope they enjoy it today,” says an in-no-way-patronising Phil Neville. Heartwarming indeed – but does anyone else have an inkling Matt Beard’s side might do a little more than is expected of them this afternoon? There’s a liberation that comes with a complete lack of expectancy, and in Jane Ross they have a striker who can cause the best defences problems.
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And lastly an interview with Jack Sullivan, West Ham’s 19-year-old managing director:
And here’s West Ham’s Swiss wunderkind Alisha Lehmann talking to Suzanne Wrack:
A ton of pre-match reading to send your way ahead of this one. First up, here’s Eni Aluko on the pressure of the big occasion:
The teams are in
Man City: Bardsley, McManus, Houghton (C), Beattie, Stokes, Scott, Walsh, Wullaert, Weir, Parris, Stanway. Subs: Roebuck, Bonner, Bremer, Beckie, Hemp, Campbell, Emslie.
West Ham: Moorhouse, Simon, Flaherty, Hendrix, Rafferty, Percival, Longhurst, So-Hyun, Lehmann, Leon, Ross. Subs: Spencer, Sampson, Reichardt, Visalli, Kmita, Kiernan.
Preamble
Manchester City have some demons to slay. Much like its male equivalent, this season’s Women’s Super League features a team of spectacularly good runners-up. Much unlike it’s male equivalent, it’s City currently wallowing in high-achieving misery. It’s absurdly rare to see a team go an entire campaign unbeaten and yet fail to claim the title but Nick Cushing’s City team have managed just that, their five draws having seen Arsenal reel them in and secure the trophy last week.
The bitterest of pills – but as compensation goes, the FA Cup isn’t so bad. A win today would be City’s second such triumph in three years and, with a fully fit squad and facing opponents that have already been vanquished this season by an aggregate scoreline of 10-2, Cushing’s side are red-hot favourites this afternoon.
Those opponents, though, are not at Wembley to make up the numbers and, although West Ham will end their league season in prosaic midtable, they come into this game having won seven of their last nine. “We are so close, like a little family,” says their star forward Alisha Lehmann, and they will need to harness that all togetherness and then some today against a team who have averaged three goals a game this term.
Both sides snuck through to the final by the skin of their teeth – West Ham on penalties against Reading, City thanks to a slapstick injury-time own-goal – and so are well aware of the thin line separating grief and glory. All in all then, this should be good. The sun is out, a chill is in the air and a record crowd is expected to be in attendance. In the words of City captain Steph Houghton: “Anything can happen in a cup final – that’s what everybody likes about them.”
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