Everton 1-3 Manchester City
by James Nalton

THE 50th Women’s FA Cup final panned out as many may have expected. An entertaining spectacle saw Manchester City dominant, Everton persistent, and finished with a moment of quality fitting of this test of skill and endurance.

The Toffees posed enough of a threat for this final not to be called one-sided. They boasted dangerous attacking players of their own, a well-organised defence, and in Sandy MacIver a standout goalkeeper who kept City at bay deep into extra time.

But this 120-minute long epic ended with City deservedly lifting the trophy for the third time in four seasons.

It was a goal from Georgia Stanway, 21 minutes into extra time, that ultimately gave them the win. She latched onto a perfectly weighted through-ball from fellow substitute Jess Park to make City’s dominance count.

They rounded off the victory with the last kick of the game, giving them the margin of victory they deserved when Stanway set up Janine Beckie to make it 3-1.

The standout outfield player prior to Stanway’s late cameo was Sam Mewis. The American drove City on from midfield having given them the lead, and her tireless performance epitomised what was needed in such an endurance test.

Valerie Gauvin has made an impressive start to life at Everton and the striker managed to level the scores in the second half, but the use of substitutes was always likely to be key in such a game, and players from City’s bench managed to clinch the trophy for the Manchester side.

Much of the pre-match focus was on City forward Chloe Kelly who had played for Everton in the early rounds of this tournament. The delayed completion of the competition due to the Covid-19-enforced break in football this year means two seasons have overlapped, with last season’s final taking place with the 2020-21 season already underway.

City, the defending champions taking part in their third final, fell into an early rhythm, trying to release Kelly down the right as the winger looked to neatly tie up the pre-match narrative, but the Everton defence did well to block all paths in those opening stages.

Everton had some chances on the break. Hayley Raso pounced on a poor touch from Steph Houghton following an awkward ball in her direction from Demi Stokes. Lucy Bronze chased back to execute an excellent tackle on Raso, but referee Rebecca Welch decided it was a foul, also producing a yellow card for the unfortunate Bronze.

From the resulting free-kick, the ball eventually fell to Everton midfielder Damaris Egurrola in the box, but her shot flew over the bar.

Mewis became more involved and was a driving presence in the middle of the park, also looking to get her talented compatriot Rose Lavelle into the game. It was Mewis who eventually opened the scoring, meeting Alex Greenwood’s corner unchallenged. If there’s one player you can’t leave free at a set-piece, it’s the American.

Everton wouldn’t lie down, though, and showed the spirit that has seen them become one of the best teams in the Women’s Super League since football restarted.

Gauvin had a couple of chances late on in the first half. The best of them came as she broke through City’s offside trap, but a poor first touch let her down and she was tackled by Houghton. A tackle which left Gauvin hobbling off at halftime.

When Caroline Weir hit the post and Kelly sprinted onto the rebound at the start of the second half, it looked for all the world like City would double their lead. But some great defending from Everton’s Izzy Christiansen and goalkeeper MacIver somehow kept the shot out.

City goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck was called into action at the other end to tip Egurrola’s effort over the bar, but it only delayed the equaliser as Gauvin turned in Christiansen’s corner with the back of her head.

Gauvin, who appeared to be struggling following that clash with Houghton at the end of the first half, connected much more convincingly with her next header, from Nicoline Sorensen’s cross, but it went wide.

Stokes created one of the chances of the game in injury time, squaring from the byline to Weir who sent her shot over the bar. The Scotland international hit the bar with an attempt from distance shortly after, before the game went to extra time.

A tired period of extra time followed, and City would have scored earlier but Megan Finnegan got across to provide vital cover for Everton with MacIver stranded. MacIver was called into action again from the resulting corner, tipping Houghton’s header onto the post to keep Everton in the game.

But City’s pressure told. Park cut in from the right, timed her pass perfectly, and weighted it even better, with Stanway sneaking her shot past the onrushing MacIver and just inside the near post.

Everton pushed forward to equalise, but this just left more space for City on the counter which Stanway and Beckie duly exploited to seal the win.