Mary Fowler’s late strike in a thrilling chess match of a game against Arsenal earned Manchester City a place in the League Cup final, where they will play Chelsea.
Fowler’s first-half strike was cancelled out by Mariona Caldentey’s penalty in the second before Arsenal’s goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar saved a spot-kick two minutes after the home team had scored the equaliser. The game had looked destined for extra time, but Fowler’s bobbling effort five minutes into added time wrongfooted Van Domselaar and inflicted Arsenal’s second defeat under Renée Slegers.
There is no love lost between Arsenal and City. Chloe Kelly sat in the stands for Arsenal after her deadline-day loan move from City a reflection of that, following an acrimonious end to her time in Manchester, with Laura Wienroither also unable to play in the fixture having moved the opposite way on loan.
There was confusion at Meadow Park as the clock ticked closer to the scheduled kick-off time of 7pm, players returning for a second warm-up as news filtered round that the start time had been pushed back by 15 minutes and then a further 15 due to a broken-down ambulance leaving the ground short of medical support.
Despite the delay and eagerness to get going there was a caginess to the opening exchanges, neither side wanting to give much away early on, with the Gunners having sucker-punched City twice in the first eight minutes of Sunday’s Women’s Super League match between the teams.
This fixture was a chance for City to quickly exorcise the ghost of the frenetic 4-3 home defeat at the weekend, and they made the most of it, accruing just shy of 60% possession in the first half and mustering nine shots to Arsenal’s two. It was the visiting team that drew first blood, with the former Arsenal forward Vivianne Miedema providing the impetus, the WSL record goalscorer driving through the middle on a counterattack before playing the ball to Fowler to her right to fire beyond Van Domselaar.
The home team had made just one change, with Beth Mead out and Lia Wälti in, while Gareth Taylor made three changes to Sunday’s starting City XI. Most notably, Khadija Shaw, who was a second-half substitute in Manchester, was absent entirely, having withdrawn from the squad to protect her mental wellbeing after she was subjected to racist and misogynistic abuse after the league match with Arsenal.
City kept the pressure on in the second half, twice rattling the bar in quick succession, first from a Kerolin cross, then via a ferocious Aoba Fujino strike, but they failed to capitalise on their dominance.
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They were punished for their profligacy in the 56th minute. With Arsenal, the holders, in the ascendancy, Stina Blackstenius was released but was clipped in the box by Rebecca Knaak and Caldentey slotted in from the spot. The decision was harsh, with Knaak having got a touch on the ball before she connected with the Swedish forward.
There was a chance for instant retribution when Fowler was muscled down between Kyra Cooney-Cross and Lotte Wubben-Moy but the Australian international’s spot-kick was straight down the middle and palmed away by Van Domselaar to the delight of the anxious home crowd.
The two penalties in two minutes opened the game up, but both sides struggled to capitalise on their opportunities to win it. Jill Roord’s free header in the 90th minute sailed agonisingly wide for City. They would not be left ruing the miss, though, with Fowler stepping up to score her fourth goal in two games against Arsenal and send City through to the final.
