Manchester City 3-0 Tottenham Hotspur
By Adam Millington
at The Academy Stadium

MANCHESTER City will face Chelsea in the final of the Women’s League Cup next month after they triumphed 3-0 at home to Spurs on Thursday evening.

It will be the first time the two will meet at this stage of the competition when they face off at AFC Wimbledon’s Cherry Red Records stadium, with Man City hoping to regain the title after back-to-back Conti Cup wins for Emma Hayes’s side.

“Both sides are deserved of being there first and foremost,” said Gareth Taylor after the game. “I think it will be a great game, it should be top level. We’ve got a bit to do in terms of catching them in more recent results. 

“We have an opportunity on Sunday with the WSL game so we’ll go in there full of confidence. If we play like we can do and be clinical at the top end of the pitch and control games like we have shown recently, then I don’t see us not being there.

“And we look forward to the final in a month’s time. But there’s a lot of football to be played between now and then.”

Their ticket to that game was secured by sublime performances from Jess Park and Lauren Hemp on their respective wings for the blues, the former recording a goal and two assists.

Park’s season – and in fact much of the previous one – has been characterised by splendid footwork but a failure to unleash efforts which are even close to troubling the goalkeeper.

With the ball at her feet she is one of the country’s brightest prospects, but her finishing needs to improve rapidly if she is to be in contention for a spot in the senior national team.

And she’s starting to do just that, with her opener against Tottenham emblematic of the potential she holds. After dancing through the defence, she rifled low and hard from a difficult angle to beat Becky Spencer and get her side’s first.

“I thought she was great considering she got levelled by the full back in the first challenge,” Taylor added when asked about Park. 

“Some young players might go under at that moment but I think she is playing with real confidence at the moment. She’s creating a lot of goals for us. 

“The challenge with Jess has been trying to get more goals out of her. So the goal was really pleasing, the way she cut across the defender, we know she can really finish well it’s just trying to get her into those positions as much as possible. 

“To score a goal like she did tonight and create two as well was a special performance from her.”

Six minutes later Khadija “Bunny” Shaw doubled their advantage: after Caroline Weir’s shot was deflected, Park lunged in the air to keep the attack alive and the Jamaican forward was left with an easy tap-in.

Tottenham were lethargic, looking worlds apart from the side who beat City at this ground in the WSL earlier this season. That result may have been marred by controversy around a possible Spurs hand-ball for one of their goals, but they were still a strong opposition.

However on Thursday, they simply rolled over for the blues. Wave after wave of attack was allowed to pass through the defence and they were lucky that the hosts did not take advantage of it.

But with City knocking – including hitting the woodward twice – a third goal always seemed a given. It may have taken until after the break for that to come, but it was unexpected nevertheless.

Lauren Hemp had been rampant down the left, tearing apart the full-back in her usual manner and freeing up space on the inside. One of her side’s most potent threats; a goal was just reward.

With Park turning provider once again, Hemp headed a looping ball at the back post and, via the underside of the bar, it bounced over the line to put the icing on the cake for City.

Now, however, attentions must quickly turn away from the cup and towards the league, where City will travel south and meet Chelsea in the WSL this Sunday.

The London club have had an extra day’s rest after they beat Manchester United in their respective semi-final on Wednesday, but that won’t be any excuse. 

With Taylor’s side wanting to recover after their calamitous start to the campaign, they need every point they can get if they are to secure a spot in Europe – and a win at Kingsmeadow could be crucial in the race to do just that.