Julius OkorieIt was sweet revenge for Manchester City ladies on Thursday, after they edged their Arsenal counterparts to hit finals of the Women League Cup.
Mary Fowler netted a 95th-minute winner to seals City’s 2-1 victory.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelArsenal claimed a 4-3 victory over City just five days earlier in the Women’s Super League, but the visitors took revenge to set up a showdown with Chelsea at Derby’s Pride Park Stadium on Saturday March 15.
City were without striker, Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw, after she withdrew from their match squad after suffering racist abuse on Sunday.
Fowler, however stood up in her absence, firing past past goalkeeper ,Daphne van Domselaar, in the 26th minute although the hosts soon hit back through Mariona Caldentey’s penalty.
The Australia striker then had the opportunity to restore City’s lead during the second half from 12 yards but had her spot kick saved. It was however not long before she redeemed herself scoring a dramatic late winner that put paid to the encounter.
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“[It was] something to be really proud of,” said Fowler “Arsenal always put up a good fight and they played well tonight.
“I’m super proud of the girls and how we played and just happy to get the win.
Man City Ladies’ manager Gareth Taylor added: “I think the players really deserve that after their performance. Sometimes you don’t get it, but I felt if we were going to go into extra time, I really fancied us to get a goal because we were knocking on the door a lot tonight and we showed good character.
“We missed the penalty but Mary scored a brilliant goal before that and it could have extended our lead a little bit more.
Chelsea reached their first final under Sonia Bompastor with a 2-0 win over West Ham.
Johanna Rytting Kaneryd fired in the opening goal on the 20th-minute mark before Sjoeke Nusken doubled the Blues lead nine minutes later.
Manchester City who are four-time winners of the FA Women’s League Cup,are eyeing their fiftth trophy. They meet in the final against Chelsea who won back to back in the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 seasons.
Arsenal are however are the highest winners of the Women League Cup with seven titles in the kitty.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
