The Blues missed out on the chance to make history and book their place in the competition’s final at Wembley Stadium, falling to a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea Ladies on Bank Holiday Monday.
Cushing says there is no time to dwell on the loss though, as City face the Londoners again this Sunday in the league.
With the hosts needing points on the board, it’s another crucial encounter and the boss has encouraged his side to learn from their mistakes and use their negative experiences proactively.
“We cannot be too downbeat about the result for too long because as of today, we’ve been preparing for Sunday’s game,” he asserted.
“Of course, we go into every individual game to win it and we prepare to beat the team in front of us. We did that on Monday and I felt we did enough to win. I couldn’t fault the players’ application and effort.
“I thought Nikita Parris and Toni Duggan were exceptional at creating chances and Natasha Harding ran her socks off.
“In the first half, we were under the cosh a little bit because we didn’t get to grips with their movement at times - but we defended really, really well.
“We were very resolute and we’d worked all week about being solid as a defensive unit so I was pleased at half-time.
“At the break, I just asked the team to come out and play and they did that - but it was the same old story for us because we didn’t put the ball in the net and if you don’t do that, you never really get clear.
“With 20 minutes to go, I thought there would only be one winner but football throws these things up and when you don’t put teams away when you’ve got them on the rack, you let them in. Still, I was proud of the players and they can learn from it.
“The team had not experienced a defeat like that before. Last season, we went all the way in the Continental Cup – we hadn’t had the disappointment of losing a semi-final.
After the game, I spoke in the dressing room about using the defeat as a springboard. The setback can be used in a positively – it makes us more determined to succeed.
“There’s still a lot to play for this season and we’ll be working hard all week to put things right.
“On Sunday, we’ll be looking for a bit of revenge on ourselves if that makes sense. We want to do ourselves justice and put the ball in the net.
“Hopefully, it will be a good game for us.”
Tickets for MCWFC’s FA Women’s Super League clash against Chelsea Ladies on Sunday 10 May are now on sale.
Kick-off is at 6pm at the Academy Stadium and full ticket information can be found here.
