Brighton 0-4 Manchester City: WSL champions complete domestic double | OneFootball

Sam Bunce, Football reporter

Manchester City romped to a first Women’s FA Cup triumph in six years to complete a first ever domestic double and deny final debutants Brighton from causing a big upset at Wembley.

Andree Jeglertz’s side weathered a determined storm from the Seagulls early on, until Khadija Shaw climbed above Chiamaka Nnadozie to meet Alex Greenwood’s cross in the 38th minute.

Greenwood’s pinpoint free-kick curled into the bottom corner on the stroke of half time, and Aoba Fujino added a third with the help of a faint deflection.

On her first appearance since late March, substitute Vivianne Miedema got herself on the scoresheet, heading in from Kerstin Casparij’s cross in the 87th minute.

As it happened

Brighton made their maiden appearance at Wembley look routine in the opening stages, courageously building from deep and preventing the WSL champions from stamping their authority.

Fran Kirby’s shot was rifled against Jade Rose, after Kiko Seike gave her first glimpse of menace down the right flank against long-serving City defender Greenwood.

Canadian international Rose elected to shepherd the ball to onrushing Ayaka Yamashita, but this became the wrong option when Madison Haley snuck in front and collided forcefully with the City goalkeeper.

The ball broke to Marisa Olislagers to fire on target with the goal gaping, but Greenwood heroically sensed the danger and bailed her teammates out by clearing off the line.

Yamashita, who had been reinstalled for FA Cup duties due to Khiara Keating’s suspected injury, required treatment and afforded manager Jeglertz time to reconvene with his players. At first, the three-time winners continued to lack solutions to venture upfield.

The final debutants Brighton were setting traps with their press and dispossessed Yui Hasegawa as City persisted in pushing passes into central midfield.

Jelena Cankovic shifted it to Kirby, but Yamashita smothered promptly to deny the veteran from scoring in a third FA Cup final.

They were made to rue not capitalising on this dominance penning back Manchester City, who rediscovered some threat that made them league champions through their talisman.

Three-time WSL golden boot winner Shaw escaped her marker effortlessly and offloaded a pass into the path of Grace Clinton for the midfielder to strike into the gloves of Nnadozie.

Moments later, Lauren Hemp wriggled away down the left flank and laid it off to Shaw, and the Jamaican’s first sighter trickled into Nnadozie again to leave her untroubled.

Left-back Greenwood forayed forwards, hanging a floating cross up towards the ominous presence of Shaw, whose towering header above Nnadozie gave City the lead.

Brighton were not perturbed entering the additional seven minutes of first half stoppage time, and City were thriving by feeding off scraps.

Shaw tumbled over to win a free-kick centrally on the edge of the area, after Charlie Rule’s pockets were picked by Kerolin, and Dario Vidosic’s side paid the price.

One of City’s main assets in their armoury this season has been notching goals from set-pieces, but not quite in the same fashion as Greenwood’s first goal this season, curling in her free-kick into the bottom right corner.

For Brighton to emulate their late comeback at Liverpool in the semi-finals seemed a tall order, especially with the team breaking the deadlock going onto lift the trophy in each of the last 13 finals.

Shooting towards their own supporters making up the 43, 917 in attendance, City exuded greater belief with the ball and became more assured to withstand Brighton’s attempts at unlocking them.

Brazilian Kerolin was persistent and Clinton would have profited if it wasn’t for her prodded effort towards goal being tame.

Miedema missed much of City’s run-in to the WSL title, but returned as a substitute with half an hour to play, brimming with quality in front of goal to add the gloss for her side. It was initially her fellow substitute who took them out of sight in the 66th minute.

Shaw galloped forwards down the left channel after combining deeper, and Fujino’s deflected strike then wrong-footed Nnadozie to extinguish Brighton’s hopes of an upset.

Vidosic called upon Rosa Kafaji and Nadine Noordam, bidding for his ranks to rediscover their early impetus, but they became in danger of conceding more.

Before being replaced by Lauren Coombs to play her final minutes in a City shirt, Shaw was bearing down on goal and forced a fine stop by Nnadozie.

Greenwood almost added to her two earlier goal contributions when Fujino strode onto her pass and rattled the post, as Brighton’s woes compounded.

Miedema did get in on the act in the final minutes, guiding her header into the net from close range, after receiving Casparij’s cross to make it four, and City were FA Cup champions for the first time since 2020.