Manchester City boss Gareth Taylor said that it was hard for his side to come back from conceding two goals in the first half-hour of their Vitality Women’s FA Cup semi-final tie against Chelsea.
Erin Cuthbert and Melanie Leupolz both netted goals in the first half for Chelsea to give their opponents an uphill battle. Beth England netted the final goal of the 3-0 win late in the second half.
Speaking in his post-match press conference in which FAWSL Full-Time were present, Taylor expressed his disappointment at his side’s first half performance as they crashed out of the Vitality Women’s FA Cup to a determined and resilient Chelsea side.
“The first half was where we lost the game,” said Taylor. “We were in decent control in the first 20 minutes, it was quite good and as soon as we conceded in quick succession, it affected us.
“We had a good conversation at half-time, changed things around. The second half was okay, we showed spirit but those first goals decided the tie.”
The goals from Cuthbert and Leupolz came as killer blows for Taylor’s side, goals which arguably could have been prevented by goalkeeper Karima Benameur Taieb. Taylor felt that his goalkeeper should have done better with both of the strikes.
Taylor commented by saying “I need to look again but I’ve had a quick glance, yeah you’d expect them to be saved.
“It’s easy from the sidelines, when you’re in that moment, you don’t know if it’s come through some legs, especially the second goal.
“I’m more concerned though with the first that we switched off defensively and you can’t do that against a team like Chelsea.”
Despite the defeat, Taylor gave praise for winger Lauren Hemp who created many chances for the home side and was arguably one of the best players on the pitch.
He said “Before the third goal we had some moments, they came from Lauren who was very dangerous for us down the left this afternoon.
“We needed to improve our quality in the final third, at half time I thought we were still in the game.
“We showed our spirit in the second half but we need to improve our quality of the play.”
Manchester City are back in action on Thursday when Durham are the visitors to The Academy Stadium in the FA Women’s Continental League Cup.