And with that, I’m off. Bye!
Jonathan Liew has filed his match report from Wembley:
Finally, after 110 minutes of the thickest tension, gravity and reality collided. The coronation of Manchester City as winners of the 50th women’s FA Cup had long felt pre-ordained, perhaps even inevitable. But not until Georgia Stanway managed to squeeze the ball under the body of Sandy MacIver, with City’s 26th shot of the match, did it feel certain.
It was tough on Everton, but ultimately not unfair. They had scrapped and fought and poured every last ounce of themselves into this contest. They had dragged themselves impressively back into the game courtesy of Valérie Gauvin’s header on the hour. Their goalkeeper MacIver certainly deserved better after producing not so much a string of saves as an entire repertoire of miracles. But as the minutes ticked away, first the 90 and then the 120, City’s superior class and depth almost invariably found a way through.
Much more here:
Willie Kirk has a chat:
First of all, immensely proud of the players. I thought we prepared really well for it. Unfortunately somebody’s got to lose on the day. Extra time was maybe one-sided but we still created chances, we still pushed hard right up until the final kick of the ball. Obviously the third goal is very harsh, to lose 3-1. I thought we gave them a good run for their money. City are deserved winners, but they had to be because we pushed hard. City just had that little bit of edge.
Gareth Taylor has a chat:
I feel a whole mixture of emotions today. It was crazy. I thought we dominated most of the game. It was always tight. Even when they got back to 1-1 it still felt comfortable, and felt that with the half-an-hour in extra time if we keep sticking to our principles we’ll be OK. Sometimes it doesn’t happen, sometimes you have to go to penalties and it can go either way.
Just super proud of the players and this gives us a platform to build on. I think it was tight in scoreline, but I felt we just needed to improve our quality in the final third. Some of our decision-making all over the pitch could have been better. But everyone just wanted to get the result today. The performances have always been something I pride myself on, but winning today is key and it gives us a platform in confidence and belief to go on and achieve more.
I’m super proud but the word is relieved. We were expected to win today, that’s not easy to do but we managed to do it so I’m proud.
Steph Houghton collects her medal, tucks it into a sock, then grabs the trophy and raises it aloft!
City’s players go up to collect their medals. Because of Covid there’s nobody to present them with their rewards, they just help themselves out of a box.
Sandy MacIver, Everton’s goalkeeper, was named player of the match a few moments before she conceded two late goals. She has a quick chat with the BBC:
Obviously it’s gutting to lose in the final. We came here with every belief that we could win. I think today’s game is testament to how far we’ve come. I think today’s performance shows we can go on and hopefully challenge for the league next year. From a personal point of view, I thought the backline was superb, Meg Finnigan, it was the best game I’ve seen her play. With the players we’ve brought in, I think this is just the start for us.
City used three substitutes today: Park assisted the second goal, Stanway scored that one and assisted the third, and Beckie scored the third. For all that they dominated possession throughout, it was the strength of City’s bench that decided it.
Final score: Everton 1-3 Manchester City
120+2 mins: And that’s the last kick of the game! Manchester City have won the FA Cup!
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GOAL! Everton 1-3 Manchester City (Beckie, 120+2 mins)
And City have won it now! Stanway draws two defenders and delays the pass beautifully before sliding in Beckie to her left, and she sidefoots past MacIver!
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120+2 mins: Stanway holds the ball up excellently before passing to Park on the right, who runs slowly towards the corner flag.
120+1 mins: There will be two minutes of stoppage time.
120 mins: It’s a really poor free-kick, though, and there’s no chance of anyone scoring from that.
120 mins: Everton work the ball down the right, and win a free-kick 10 yards from the byline. The goalkeeper comes up. It’s do or die.
118 mins: Kelly is going off, and Janine Beckie will have a brief runout.
117 mins: Everton manage to get the ball and work it to the edge of the City penalty area, but Sorensen’s shot is feeble and Roebuck collects.
115 mins: Now Kelly goes down and soaks up some more seconds by calling the physios into action.
113 mins: Everton now have just a few minutes to chase the game, and the ball, while fighting their own fatigue. City don’t seem inclined to let them have so much as a kick.
GOAL! Everton 1-2 Manchester City (Stanway, 111 mins)
A great pass from Park slices open the Everton defence, and Stanway bursts onto it, gets there just before MacIver, and her shot clips the keeper and the inside of the post on its way in!
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109 mins: Everton pass the ball around the defence for a bit, ending a prolonged spell of midfield chaos when it seemed every touch went to a player from the other side.
106 mins: Action has resumed at Wembley. Can anyone rescue this game from a penalty shoot-out? If so, they’d better crack on with it.
Half time in extra time: Everton 1-1 Manchester City!
105+1 mins: Great save! Houghton heads the corner goalwards, and MacIver tips it onto the post! We’re halfway through extra time, and somehow Everton are still level.
105+1 mins: The ball is played through to Stanway, who prods it beyond the advancing keeper, but Finnigan comes round the side and gets in the way as she seems poised to pass it into the empty net!
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105 mins: City miss an open goal, as Finnigan comes to Everton’s rescue!
104 mins: City hog the ball and keep Everton inside their defensive third, but they can’t create anything and eventually Stanway has a pot-shot from 15 yards that deflects wide.
99 mins: The only thing slowing it down are the injuries, which continue to be regular. Egurrola now goes off, and Abbey-Leigh Stringer comes on.
96 mins: Mewis shoots from 20 yards, but it’s weak and MacIver saves easily. The game continues to be played at an ever-increasing pace.
91 mins: Simone Magill has replaced Gauvin, who did brilliantly just to play the second half, let alone to score with the back of her head while looking the other way. Magill turns 25 today. Also, Poppy Pattinson has replaced Sevecke.
91 mins: Peeeeep! Extra time is under way!
Another substitution: The assistant referee Natalie Aspinall has picked up an injury and has gone off, with Emily Carney replacing her.
Full time: Everton 1-1 Manchester City
90+7 mins: And that’s it! Extra time it is! “Watched a few - too many - games this weekend and this has been the most enjoyable to watch by a distance,” writes Tony Reekie. “Great spirit, attitude and no little amount of skill too. A very good final.” It has indeed been a fine match and improved gradually towards a thrilling period of stoppage time. And now we’ll get another half-hour of it!
90+6 mins: Not like that! Egurrola wins the header, but it goes a yard wide! What a breathless end to the match!
90+6 mins: Now Everton break, and have a corner to steal it themselves.
90+5 mins: Another chance for Weir, and this time she hits the bar! It’s a sharp exchange of passes around the area, a one-two with Kelly, and a left-footed curler that goes over MacIver and hits the bar on its way over.
90+3 mins: What a chance to win it! Stokes gets to the byline and pulls back to Weir, who lifts a first-time shot over the bar from eight yards!
90+2 mins: Everton take off the limping Graham, and bring on Molly Pike.
90+1 mins: We’re into stoppage time, and will have at least six minutes of it. Players seem to be going down all over the place, so this could well be extended.
90 mins: Chance for City! Bronze crosses from the right, and Kelly ghosts infield off the left but lifts her half-volley over the bar from 15 yards!
89 mins: Mewis bashes a shot over the bar from 20 yards or so.
87 mins: The corner is eventually taken. It’s a decent delivery, but hits a defender and loops into Roebuck’s hands.
86 mins: Graham seems to have turned an ankle. She’s limping off the field, not at all happy about life.
85 mins: Egurrola is up, but now Graham is down. Everton play on, and Sorensen’s cross from the right was dipping in before Roebuck tipped it over, though it clipped the bar on its way!
83 mins: Now Egurrola is down after a crunching challenge from Park.
81 mins: Now Stanway is booked, for a foul on Rikke Sevecke.
80 mins: Everton are a little prone to giving the ball away with poor passes inside their own half, and one of those leads to Stanway shooting just wide from 20 yards.
77 mins: Greenwood goes down hard after competing with Gauvin for a header, and takes a couple of minutes to get to her feet.
76 mins: Everton’s first change sees Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah come on for Raso.
73 mins: Now Kelly, who has moved to the left since Park came on, cuts inside and hits a 20-yard shot wide of the near post.
72 mins: Great chance for an Everton second! And that was the best move of the match for either side, I think, ending with Sorensen crossing first-time from the left and Gauvin heading just wide at the near post.
70 mins: City’s second change sees Rose Levelle leave the fray, and Jess Park enter it.
69 mins: Kelly gets a bit of space on the right for City, but instead of looking for a better-placed teammate she slashes a shot well wide.
66 mins: Everton win a free-kick on the right, and again the cross is promising, but it flies only just behind Graham.
65 mins: City get a great chance to counter-attack, but the pass through to Lavelle is delayed so long she’s several yards offside by the time it arrives.
63 mins: City make the day’s first substitution, bringing Georgia Stanway on for Ellen White.
GOAL! Everton 1-1 Manchester City (Gauvin, 60 mins)
Gauvin heads in the resulting corner! Gauvin jumps against Stokes at the near post but doesn’t just take her eye off the ball she turns her head entirely, and it hits her on the back of the head and goes in!
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59 mins: Another save! Now Everton nearly score! A corner from the right is headed out to Egurrola, whose own header was on its way into the net when Roebuck reaches out a hand to push it over!
55 mins: City hit the post! And then an incredible save from MacIver! Lavelle plays in Weir, whose cross-shot hits the inside of the far post and rebounds to Kelly, who tries to thump it into the back of the net but finds MacIver, back on her feet and sprinting across goal, in the way!
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53 mins: Gauvin is still going, if no longer at full capacity. Everton press City into a mistake at the back, but the cross from the right is underhit and headed clear before Gauvin can get to it.
49 mins: No significant changes in momentum as yet. Raso tries to create something for Everton down the right, but Greenwood gets between her and the ball and eventually wins City a free-kick.
46 mins: Peeeeep! City get the game restarted.
The players retake the field, and Gauvin is among them, with her right knee now heavily taped and bandaged.
It’s hard to say that City don’t deserve their lead, given their dominance. But they have played like a group of great players who are collectively low on confidence, keeping the ball well but taking few risks and thus not regularly threatening a well organised Everton defence. Gauvin is important for Everton, particularly because of her ability in the air, and their chances of getting back into this game may live or die on the state of her ankle and whether the physios can get her back on her feet in time to retake the field.
Half time: Everton 0-1 Manchester City
45+5 mins: And that’s the end of the first half. Everton have had 30% of possession and no shots on target, but they’re still in the game - and now they have 15 minutes to patch up Gauvin and get her ready for a vital second half.
45+3 mins: Only one minute’s stoppage time was signalled, but we’re already nearly three minutes into it.
45 mins: The ball is played through to Gauvin, as City’s defence stands around with their hands in the air hoping for an offside flag that isn’t coming, but her first touch is poor and allows Houghton to get across and tackle. The City defender slides through into Gauvin’s ankle, and the Frenchwoman is down now and might be seriously hurt.
43 mins: Everton win a free-kick on the right, but the cross is overhit and though Finnigan heads it back into the mixer Roebuck comes out to claim, skittling a couple of other players in the process.
GOAL! Everton 0-1 Manchester City (Mewis, 40 mins)
And Manchester City take the lead from the corner! That’s a great cross from Greenwood, and an emphatic if uncontested header from the American!
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38 mins: Weir cuts across the edge of the area from the left before eventually sending a right-foot shot bobbling wide. It took a deflection on its way, though.
34 mins: Half a chance for Everton! Wold crosses from the right, and Gauvin beats Houghton to the header but sends it well wide. It would have taken a phenomenal finish to score from there, but that will give her side some encouragement.
31 mins: Weir heads the ball through to White, but the City forward was just offside.
30 mins: This is a tough afternoon for Valerie Gauvin, but she is sufficiently fast, direct and dangerous that I think she gives Everton a genuine chance for as long as her fitness and sense of optimism survives. For now, though, she’s mainly chasing down lost causes.
28 mins: Graham is horribly fouled in midfield by Weir, I think. But the challenge is so late and the ball so distant by the time it happens that the referee is looking the other way and misses it entirely, and the City player gets away with it!
25 mins: Now City have a chance! A long ball forward finds Mewis running beyond the Everton defence, and though Finnigan gets to the ball first it breaks back into Mewis’s path. MacIver races out of her goal, Mewis races towards it, and both reach the ball at pretty much the same time, Mewis poking it straight into the Everton keeper.
25 mins: Hayley Raso gets booked for a trip on Bronze.
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24 mins: City have upped their possession percentage to 74% now, but though they are basically completely dominant they have created very little.
20 mins: Save! Kelly cuts into the box from the right and shoots low towards the near post. MacIver saves but can’t hold, and a defender clears.
16 mins: Another chance! The free-kick bounces into the wall and breaks to Egurrola, who panics, rushes her shot, hits a teammate, sees it bounce back to her with more time this time, panics again, rushes the shot again, and this time it goes high!
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15 mins: Chance for Everton! Raso wins the ball from Houghton in midfield, and with Roebuck out of her area and out of position Bronze slides in and fouls! She might have got the ball, but it was surely either not a foul or a red card. She gets booked.
13 mins: Kelly works a good crossing position on the right, but doesn’t produce a good cross. City have had 70% of possession so far.
12 mins: City win the game’s first corner, which Greenwood sends into the area but Damaris Egurrola heads away.
9 mins: The play has been largely concentrated on the City right, where Kelly and Lucy Bronze offer a considerable double threat, and Mewis has come across to help out as well.
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6 mins: City have very much started the game on the front foot, but no genuine chances as yet. A brief pause now, after Demi Stokes goes down after Nicoline Sorensen closed her down and accidentally caught her on the face with a hand.
3 mins: The first shot of the day comes from Chloe Kelly, after Gauvin dropped back to help Everton out only to give the ball away. No matter, it’s a hopeless shot, and only just reached MacIver in the Everton goal.
1 min: Peeeeep! Everton, in yellow shirts and blue shorts, get the game under way!
Anthem sung, coin tossed, we’re seconds away from action now.
The teams are on their way out! There may not be a crowd at Wembley, but they make plenty of their own noise in the tunnel, and are then greeted on the pitch by some completely unnecessary pyrotechnics.
Willie Kirk has a quick chat, first on Valerie Gauvin’s place in the Everton team:
Valerie is a natural goalscorer. It’s a game where chances could be rare for both teams, I certainly hope they’ll be rare for Manchester city. I don’t think [not having beaten City in 13 meetings makes any difference], I think Cup finals are unique, one-off occasions. It’s 11 v 11, it’s a fantastic occasion for everybody, and we’re confident we’ll take the trophy back to Liverpool.
Just a quarter of an hour away from action at Wembley. The BBC has just interviewed Manchester City’s American pair, Rose Lavelle and Sam Mewis. Mewis says her main issue with life in England is a washing machine she doesn’t entirely understand, but on the plus side “the food’s great, the coffee’s great”.
Hello world!
It is a decade since Everton last won this or any other significant trophy, but in the opening weeks of this season Willie Kirk’s side have reestablished themselves among the elite with some excellent performances and results in the league, and victory today would put the sweetest seal on it. Manchester City are the reigning champions and have won the FA Cup twice in the last three years, and despite some decidedly dodgy league form - they have already dropped points three times this season, including in their last two games - are heavy favourites for this game. “I think 10 years is too long for a club this size and we are determined to get back to the days where Everton were competing for trophies,” tubthumped Kirk in the build-up. “It would be even bigger, managing to topple one of the teams that are serial trophy winners right now.” Esme Morgan starts for City, and Chloe Kelly is on the bench - both started the 2019-20 season (and this is the 2019-20 FA Cup final) at Everton, and played in this competition for the team they face this afternoon, which is awkward. Anyway, and most importantly, hello!
The teams!
The teams have already been announced, and here they are:
Everton: MacIver; Wold, Finnigan, Sevecke, Turner; Christiansen, Egurrola, Graham; Sorensen, Gauvin, Raso. Subs: Korpela, Boya-Hlorkah, Magill, Stringer, Pike, Clemaron, Clinton, Pattinson.
Manchester City: Roebuck; Bronze, Houghton, Greenwood, Stokes; Walsh, Mewis, Lavelle; Kelly, White, Weir. Subs: Bardsley, Taieb, Bonner, Coombs, Scott, Stanway, Beckie, Morgan, Park.
Referee: Rebecca Welch.
Assistant referees: Sian Massey-Ellis & Natalie Aspinall.
Fourth official: Abi Byrne.
Reserve assistant referee: Emily Carney.
⚠️ 𝙏𝙀𝘼𝙈 𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎 ⚠️
— Everton Women (@EvertonWomen) November 1, 2020
Your #EFC starting XI for today's #WomensFACupFinal...#UTT ✊ pic.twitter.com/TlC4t1Pu1b
Here's our cup final line-up! 🏆🙌
— Man City Women (@ManCityWomen) November 1, 2020
XI | Roebuck, Stokes, Houghton (C), Kelly, White, Weir, Bronze, Lavelle, Mewis, Walsh, Greenwood
SUBS | Bardsley, Taieb, Bonner, Coombs, Scott, Stanway, Beckie, Morgan, Park
⚽️ @HaysWorldwide
🔷 #ManCity | https://t.co/HkTzfLv0HJ pic.twitter.com/sYv0cDBsXi
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