That’s it for our FA Cup final blog. Thanks for your company and emails, and don’t forget to read Suzanne Wrack’s match report from Wembley. Goodnight!
Sam Kerr’s verdict
“The Double: it’s amazing feeling to be part of this club. It’s the best club in the world and I’m just so proud.”
Yep, she was very keen to do one and join in the celebrations.
Chelsea have won the FA Cup!
Magda Eriksson and Millie Bright share the honour of lifting the trophy, and the players all start jigging around to the bloody Fratellis. I know the song’s called Chelsea Dagger, but come on. Even with that dubious choice of music it’s a delightful scene, when an entire season’s toil can finally be celebrated. We’ll never fully understand the sacrifice that great sports teams make, or how good moments like this feel as a result.
A smiling Emma Hayes leads her team up to collect their winners’ medals. She has now won 11 major honours: five league titles, four FA Cups and two League Cups. By any standards, she is an all-time great.
Suzanne Wrack’s match report
Erin Cuthbert’s verdict
“I struggle to find words to sum that up. What a performance from the girls. We knew it would be a tough slog. It’s so hard when you concede five minutes from time; it really does take the wind out of your sails. We had to regroup at the start of extra time, and we found a level that we’ve not found in ourselves.
“D’you know what, I honestly don’t score many goals. It’s an amazing honour. I thought it was gonna be the winning goal and it wasn’t! It doesnae matter if it was a good goal or not – Sam’s was a deflection and that’s as important because it was the winner.
“We’ve faced a lot of adversity this year – Covid, injuries – and we’ve had to use the squad. I think that really helped us today. I’m just so proud to end the season on a high. [Waves her POTM champagne around] I’ll be drinking this all tonight, thank you!”
The player of the match is Erin Cuthbert. Not content with being an elemental force in midfield, she put Chelsea 2-1 up with a stunning goal.
The other two were scored by the inevitable Sam Kerr, who has apparentlybeen credited with the winning goal. Four goals in a week, to win the two biggest prizes in English football: yeah, she’d have taken that.
One Step Beyond, the Chelsea anthem, is blaring out across Wembley. They’re a great side, who deserve everything they get, but you have to feel for City. The margins are so fine. One split-second misjudgement from Alanna Kennedy, one deflection off Alex Greenwood. And like that, it’s gone.
That was a marvellous, which could have gone either way. The only sadness is that a game full of outstanding goals was settled by both a mistake and a deflection. The manner of the winning goal haunt Alanna Kennedy for a long time.
Full time: Chelsea 3-2 Manchester City
Chelsea have done the Double Double! For the second year in a row, and the third in five, they have won the WSL and the FA Cup. They also won the Continental Cup last year, so technically this season has been an abject comedown, but they’ll get over it.
120+1 min Roebuck stays back in the end, and the corner is driven straight into the arms of Ann-Katrin Berger. There are two minutes of added time.
120 min City win a corner on the right. It’s now or never, and Ellie Roebuck is coming forward…
118 min: City substitution Vicky Losada on, Keira Walsh off.
118 min: Chelsea substitution Maren Mjelde is on for Ji So-yun, who came on as a sub in the second half of normal time.
116 min Hemp’s cross is cleared by Carter but only to Weir, who spanks high and wide from 25 yards with her right foot. That wasn’t the right decision.
114 min Chelsea have parked the bus and frankly I don’t blame them. It’s been an exhausting match, mentally and physically.
113 min Bronze is fouled by Andersson on the right wing. Greenwood’s free-kick is headed away well by the backpedalling Cuthbert.
110 min Andersson’s corner leads to a game of head tennis in the City area. Eventually Kerr hits a volley that is blocked by Greenwood in the six-yard box.
109 min Raso tries to scurry away from Andersson, who does brilliantly to keep pace and then win a goalkick off Raso.
106 min A half chance for City within 25 seconds of the restart. Bronze’s cutback is collected by Coombs, who smacks the boucing ball over the bar from a tight angle.
106 min Peep peep!
That might go down as an Alex Greenwood own goal, in fact. We’ve just seen a replay which suggested Kerr’s shot might have been going wide of the far post. That would be especially cruel on Greenwood, who has been outstanding and did precisely nowt wrong.
Half time in extra time: Chelsea 3-2 Man City
Sam Kerr’s second goal means Manchester City have go to the well once again.
105 min: Chance for City! Blakstad’s cross is headed across goal by White and volleyed wide by the off balance Raso.
104 min Here’s Sam Kerr’s second goal of the game, which restored Chelsea’s lead. She’s had a quiet game, actually, and she’s still scored two.
102 min Sheesh, football is cruel sometimes. I’m fairly sure that would have been a comfortable save for Roebuck without the deflection off Greenwood.
Alanna Kennedy is devastated, because it was her mistake that led to the goal. She ran past a bouncing ball just inside the Chelsea half, which allowed Sam Kerr to lead a two-v-one break with Jessie Fleming. Kerr ran to just inside the City area, used Fleming by not using her and hit a right-footed shot that took a big deflection off the stretching Alex Greenwood and wrong-footed Ellie Roebuck.
What an awful moment for Kennedy, a split-second misjudgement that could be so costly.
GOAL! Chelsea 3-2 Man City (Kerr 99)
Chelsea are ahead for the third time!
96 min: Vital defending by Carter! Bright’s loose straight pass is nicked by Weir, 25 yards from goal. She moves into the area and drives a cross-shot that is taken off White’s toes by Carter. The ball runs through to Berger, who is clattered painfully by White in her follow through. There was no malice in it.
93 min Weir arrows the corner towards the penalty spot, where Bronze backheels a volley well wide. Kennedy was waiting behind her to attempt a more orthodox and less difficult volley. Bronze, usually so majestic, has had quite a disappointing game.
93 min The relentless Hemp runs Charles on the left side of the area and smashes a cross that ricochets behind for a City corner.
92 min Here’s that nerveless finish from Hayley Raso which took the game to extra-time.
91 min Peep peep! Extra time is under way. Chelsea have brought Jonna Andersson on for Guro Reiten at left wing-back.
Full time: Chelsea 2-2 Manchester City
A fantastic FA Cup final is going to extra-time.
90+3 min Hemp wriggles away from Charles on the left and hits a brilliant cross that just evades the leaping Raso. A Chelsea defender – don’t ask me who – did superbly to lean into Raso and affect her jump.
90 min Four minutes of added time. This has been a belting game, so we won’t say no to another half an hour.
Greenwood pinged an angled ball towards Raso, who made a fine run infield from the right. She controlled it magnificently with her shoulder, taking the last defender Eriksson out of the game in the process, and then forced the bouncing ball unerringly past Berger. In the circumstances, that is sensational finishing.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-2 Man City (Raso 89)
The substitute Hayley Raso equalises with another outstanding goal!
88 min Lots of City pressure now, with Chelsea’s defenders increasingly stretched. Raso plays a good ball to the underlapping Bronze… who is offside. That’s really poor from Bronze.
87 min Weir loses Cuthbert in midfield, moves to the edge of the area but then drives too close to Berger.
85 min Greenwood’s floated free-kick is helped on and wide of goal by Bronze. A half chance at best.
83 min City bring on Julia Blakstad to replace Demi Stokes at left-back.
82 min Chelsea could be eight minutes from their third Double in five years.
81 min The marauding Hemp is taken out unashamedly by Carter, who is booked.
81 min Another change for City: Laura Coombs is on for Georgia Stanway.
80 min A substitution apiece. Chelsea bring on Jessie Fleming for Pernille Harder; City introduce Ellen White in place of Bunny Shaw.
79 min Shaw nutmegs Carter on the right and moves into the area. Her cutback is blocked by Eriksson (I think) and Stanway thrashes the loose ball over from 20 yards.
78 min Harder gallops into space down the right, moves infield and squares the ball to Kerr just inside the area. She misses her kick, and then Reiten shapes a curling shot wide of the far post with her right foot.
76 min: City substitution There is a City change, but it’s not Ellen White. Instead, Hayley Raso has come on for Chloe Kelly.
75 min City have some very good options on the bench, including Ellen White. She must come on soon, surely.
74 min Today’s official attendance is 49,094, a new record for the women’s FA Cup final. It’s a record that won’t last long, probably about 12 months.