Manchester City made history as they recorded their first ever FA Women’s Super League triumph on Sunday courtesy of a 2-0 victory over Chelsea, and Toni Duggan admits being the country’s top dogs is a dream come true (www.fawsl.com).
Needing only a point to secure top spot in FA WSL 1 with one game still remaining, City looked assured from the outset and took all three thanks to goals either side of half-time.
Toni Duggan’s floated corner was flicked on by Jill Scott, and eventually went in off Chelsea captain Katie Chapman on 34 minutes to send the majority of the 4000 fans in attendance into raptures.
And the title-clincher arrived five minutes after the interval when Lucy Bronze was felled by her England team mate Gilly Flaherty, and Duggan stepped up to send Becky Spencer the wrong way from the spot.
The final whistle brought scenes of jubilation from the City players, not least Duggan who insisted her side had not been feeling the pressure in the build-up to the game.
“It’s an amazing feeling, a few of us have always come second best but this year it’s our turn and it’s nice to be on the other end of it for once,” she said.
“You wouldn’t think we were under pressure, the calmness all week from the staff, the players, it’s just a dream come true for absolutely everyone here.
“Just looking around and seeing how happy everyone is makes it worth it, the support from the fans has been amazing and hopefully that continues on to the big game we have next week.
“We want the FA WSL Continental Tyres Cup, we want that double, and Birmingham are a tough team – but we want to take this feeling into next week.
“This season we’ve really stepped up and got our rewards; it was about finding a balance and Jane Ross has come in and been unbelievable this season.
“The back four have backed us up, to keep so many clean sheets is incredible and we’re so happy to have finally done it.”
Chelsea struggled to respond against the home side’s watertight defence and their best chance didn’t come until it was too late; sub Beth England ran through on goal but could only hit her effort straight at Karen Bardsley.
The Blues were forced to hand over their FA WSL 1 crown to their hosts, and Emma Hayes tipped her cap to Manchester City after a dominant campaign.
She said: “Congratulations to Manchester City, they deserved to win the league.
“Two set pieces separated the teams today and we knew if we didn’t do our job in key areas we’d struggle.
“We started the second half flat, conceded the penalty and when you’re chasing like that it’s incredibly difficult against a top side.
“This year it’s Man City’s year, I think we have to look at what they’ve done to win this league and we need to improve physically.
“That’s part of our off-season plan to strengthen properly. City away and at home, plus Arsenal at home, we’ve lost big games due to set-pieces and we need to look closely at that.”
To buy tickets to an FA Women’s Super League match near you click here: http://www.ticketstores.co.uk/fawsl/
Manchester City 2
Chapman (og) 34, Duggan 50
Chelsea 0
Manchester City (4-3-3): Karen Bardsley; Lucy Bronze, Steph Houghton, Jennifer Beattie, Demi Stokes; Keira Walsh, Jill Scott, Izzy Christiansen; Nikita Parris, Jane Ross, Toni Duggan
Substitutes: Kosovare Asllani for Parris 72, Tessel Middag for Duggan 84, Daphne Corboz for Walsh 90
Substitutes not used: Marie Hourihan
Bookings: Christiansen 27
Red Cards:
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Rebecca Spencer; Hannah Blundell, Niamh Fahey, Gilly Flaherty, Millie Bright; Jade Bailey, Katie Chapman; Karen Carney, Ji So-yun, Eni Aluko; Gemma Davison
Substitutes: Ana Borges for Blundell 57, Bethany England for Aluko 70, Drew Spence for Ji 80
Substitutes not used: Hedvig Lindahl, Fran Kirby, Claire Rafferty
Bookings: Chapman 26, Borges 65
Red Cards:
Referee: Sarah Garratt
Attendance: 4,096
RESULTS
Saturday 24 September 2016
FA WSL 1
Doncaster Rovers Belles 1-4 Reading FC Women
FA WSL 2
Bristol City Women 1-0 Durham Women FC
Sunday 25 September 2016
WSL 1
Birmingham City Ladies 2-1 Liverpool Ladies FC
Manchester City Women 2-0 Chelsea Ladies FC
FA WSL 2
Millwall Lionesses 1-2 Watford Ladies FC
Oxford United Women 0-1 Aston Villa Ladies FC
Sheffield FC Ladies 0-1 London Bees
Yeovil Town Ladies FC 1-0 Everton Ladies FC
FAWPL results to follow tomorrow when we have a minute… (apologies and normal service will be resumed in the near future, thanks for your patience)
