Chelsea manager Emma Hayes admitted that Manchester City were the worthy winners of the FA Women’s Continental League Cup after watching her side go down 3-1 to The Cityzens at The Cherry Red Records Stadium last night.
Sam Kerr had fired Chelsea into a first half lead but two goals from Caroline Weir in the second half, either side of an Ellen White effort, turned the game into Manchester City’s favour.
When speaking in the post-match press conference, Chelsea boss Hayes admitted that Manchester City were the worthy winners of the final.
“Today’s their day, congratulations,” Hayes said. “After their second half performance, they are worthy winners. We lacked players today and I think you can’t underestimate the importance of Jessie Fleming, Erin Cuthbert, Fran Kirby, Magda Eriksson, Melanie Leupolz, Maren Mjelde.
“I think today was one game too many for us, still with that inexperience they get a taste of playing in a final for some of them. The better team won over the 90 minutes.
From the moment that Weir levelled matters in the 49th minute, there only looked like there was ever going to be one winner and that was the side from the North West. Hayes went on to say that Chelsea struggled to stop Manchester City’s momentum in the second half.
She said “Momentum is the hardest thing to coach against. When it shifts, trying to get on top of that when the wind is swirling and the rain starts to come down, the ball is bouncing off us everywhere, I felt that every ball fell to them – that’s what I mean by momentum, sometimes it is really difficult to get in the way of it.
“They get the first attack in the second half – goal, they get the second attack – goal, all of a sudden the game is drifting in another direction, third is a corner – goal, game over. That is how football is, sometimes it works in your favour and sometimes it doesn’t.”
Chelsea are back in action again on Thursday when they travel to West Ham United in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League.
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