We entered this term’s competition as holders after beating Chelsea in last year’s final, and strongly began our quest to lift the League Cup for the second time in as many seasons.
City finished top of Group B after winning all four of our matches, scoring 12 goals and registering a quartet of clean sheets in the process.
This was then followed up with a superb 6-0 victory away at Bristol City in the quarter-final – setting up a mouth watering tie with Arsenal in the last-four.
Unfortunately, though, our tournament ended in heartbreak as we lost to the Gunners in extra-time of the semi-final - despite a strong performance in north London that saw us dominate large spells of the match.
And Taylor remained buoyed in the face of disappointment as he was impressed by his side’s display.
“I’m really proud of the defence we made of the title,” he said.
“We really fought hard to win it again and be in the final. Just unfortunately it didn’t go for us tonight.”
“[The performance was] very good. I thought we played very well in large parts of the game. We probably just lacked that final bit in the final third or that final bit of quality.
“Their ‘keeper made really good saves, or we probably didn’t make the most of our number of attempts, but I thought we controlled the game quite well.
“Obviously then picked up a couple of little injuries. I think we lost a little bit of control when Laia [Aleixandri went off] and we had to reshuffle a little bit.
“Really proud of the players tonight and the performance they put in.”
In a closely contested semi-final, Arsenal’s Stina Blackstenius netted the deciding goal three minutes into extra-time when sweeping home an accurate pull-back.
It was the first goal we’d conceded in the Conti Cup this term – thus highlighting our strong campaign and the fine margins between the Barclays Women’s Super League’s top-four.
And Taylor is predicting another even battle when the side’s lock horns in the league on Saturday 11 February at the Academy Stadium.
He added: “I thought the longer it went on [a singular goal could decide it]. You never know with these games.
“I always feel we’ve got players in our team that can go and win a game two or three-nil.
“But you always thought it was going to be quite tight tonight and Saturday will probably be the same.”
