Aston Villa WFC 0-1 Chelsea FCW, Women’s FA Cup semifinal: Post-match reaction

Chelsea Women’s 3-0 win over Aston Villa in the Women’s Super League was a really dominant affair on the Blues’ side, with the hosts at Bescot Stadium rarely ever finding chances to really threaten the title defenders. Today however was different.

Throughout the first half it was a pretty even match, with midfield battles going either way. No team were thus able to really develop much upfront, although both got close shaves to open the scoring until the referee blew the first half end whistle.

In the second half it felt as if the struggle, especially for a Chelsea side used to dominating most of their English opponents, would continue. But we kept trying until Sam Kerr, rising highest in the box, met a Guro Reiten cross to make it 1-0 for the Blues.

After the goal, manager Emma Hayes decided to make some adjustments to our current eleven that left the team without “escape valves” such as Lauren James. The changes might have made us more defensively solid, but it also invited Aston Villa to our defensive third.

But the Blues held on despite Villa’s best efforts. The 1-0 margin was slim and very dangerous, but a win is a win and a win is what we needed to make it to yet another FA Cup final without having to endure the hardships of extra time or the penalty lottery.

Carefree!

• Pernille Harder is back in the squad!
• Subs are Niamh Charles for Lauren James, Sophie Ingle for Melanie Leupolz, Jessie Fleming for Erin Cuthbert, and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd for Guro Reiten.
• The Melanie Leupolz-Erin Cuthbert pairing, with Jelena Cankovic sometimes dropping back to help them, did not really work that well.
• Lauren James nearly providing us the goal after a spark of brilliance. It feels like that will be a regular happenstance really soon!
• Guro Reiten to Sam Kerr: a modern classic!
• Next up: Barcelona at home in the Champions League.
• KTBFFH!