Sophie Ingle led Chelsea Women’s fist-pumping whoops of joy on the field, celebrating victory in the League Cup against a dogged Arsenal side.
With six minutes remaining, the Gunners cancelled out an eighth-minute Beth England goal, and the cup final at Nottingham City Ground seemed destined to go to extra time.
But up popped England again in stoppage time to net the winner – her 21st goal of a glittering season - and deliver Chelsea the cup that manager Emma Hayes had described as “Arsenal’s trophy”, so often had the north Londoners lifted it.
This was the only piece of domestic silverware missing from Chelsea Women’s cabinet, and the delight was complete… if brief. Hours after the game England, Carly Telford and Millie Bright were flying to Florida to join the Lionesses for the SheBelieves Cup competition.
The first goal at Nottingham on Saturday was a classic team effort. Jonna Andersson exchanged passes with midfielder Ji So-Yun before looping a cross to the far post. Maren Mjelde’s ponytail swished through the air as she nodded the ball back for England to convert.
For 75 minutes, Chelsea clung on, weathering assault after assault as keeper Ann-Katrin Berger batted away Arsenal shots, intercepted attacks and threw herself at danger.
It seemed only a matter of time before Arsenal broke back. On 82 minutes trainers came on to treat Berger after she had taken the full force of a Vivianne Miedema piledriver in her midriff, winding her and nearly lifting her off her feet.
Still nursing the bruise, Berger soldiered on... and the Gunners equalised. Leah Williamson’s header was blocked, but she fired home the loose ball for 1-1.
The pendulum had swung Arsenal’s way and Chelsea would have struggled in extra time, but a now-or-never attack down the right by Sam Kerr created the Blues’ last-gasp chance.
She twisted inside Viki Schnaderbeck and teed up Mjelde, whose cross was tapped in by England. “They had three chances, and scored two goals,” said Arsenal manager Joe Montemurro. Blues gaffer Hayes responded: “We knew this would be a dominant Arsenal performance, which shows what a great team we are!”
The only real disappointment was the crowd size. Although 6,743 set a new cup final record for the League Cup, it would have been six times that had it been staged in the capital between two well-supported London teams.
Both Montemurro and Hayes agreed that Berger’s goalkeeping contribution had been pivotal. “She may have been the difference today,” said the Australian.
But as the only manager in women’s football to have won the league, FA Cup, League Cup and the Spring Series (the bridging tournament in 2017 which realigned the WSL to the men’s season), Hayes deserves huge plaudits.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
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