Youngsters star as City clinch FA Women's Cup

Second half goals from Keira Walsh, Georgia Stanway and Lauren Hemp clinched our second success in the competition at Wembley, registering a 3-0 win in front of a crowd of 43,264.

After a goalless and somewhat cagey opening 45 minutes to the game, a much more end-to-end second half saw City gain control and unleash our firepower.

Walsh fired in the first goal of the game in the 51^st minute, her long distance shot bouncing in front of the West Ham goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

Stanway doubled our lead 10 minutes from time, shooting low into the bottom corner of the goal to put us within touching distance of securing the Cup double this season.

The perfect match was completed in the 88th minute as substitute Hemp lifted the ball from the edge of the box over Anna Moorhouse in the Hammers’ goal to make it 3-0!

What happened

It was a cagey start to the game with both sides struggling to break down the opposition and create any real chances for themselves.

The game started to open up just before the half-hour mark. Stanway put the ball into the back of the net in the 27^th minute after latching onto a ball from fellow forward Nikita Parris, but the flag later went up for offside.

Only a few moments later and West Ham came by their best chance of the game. Karen Bardsley was forced into a fingertips save after Jane Ross got her head onto the end of an Erin Simon cross into the box to deny the opposition from taking the lead.

After going into the break goalless, it wasn’t long before City made the breakthrough. Walsh opened the scoring just after half-time with a sublime strike from the edge of the box that bounced in front of Moorhouse in the West Ham goal and slipped through the keeper’s hands.

Following the goal the game really began to pick up in pace. Parris latched onto the end of an extraordinary defence-splitting ball from Jill Scott but the forward’s shot was tipped away by Moorhouse.

Just moments later the Hammers saw themselves in a two on one situation on the counter-attack. Fortunately for City Alisha Lehmann’s shot was fired straight into the hands of Bardsley.

An incredible piece of skill from Stanway saw us double our lead just 10 minutes from time. After dribbling her way through several members of the opposition defence she struck low and hard into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal.

Just two minutes after being substituted on Lauren Hemp completed the perfect day for Nick Cushing’s side, chipping the ball over the goalkeeper from outside the box and making it 3-0 to City.

How we lined up

Cushing named an unchanged side from the one that defeated Chelsea 1-0 in the semi-finals with City operating a 4-2-2-2 formation.

Bardsley started in goal, shielded by a backline of Demi Stokes, Jennifer Beattie, captain Steph Houghton and Abbie McManus.

Walsh and Jill Scott sat in front of the back four with Caroline Weir and Tessa Wullaert in attacking midfielder and Stanway and Parris leading the line upfront.

What next

Next up for City is our final FA Women’s Super League match of the season where we will travel to Arsenal on Saturday 11 May for a 12:30pm kick-off.