A 99th-minute winner from Naomi Girma sent Chelsea through to the quarter-finals of the Women’s FA Cup as they saw off a stubborn Manchester United 2-1. In a competitive encounter at Kingsmeadow, Sonia Bompastor’s side needed extra time to keep their cup defence alive after Simi Awujo had cancelled out Sam Kerr’s opener in normal time.
This encounter felt like it came at a critical moment in Chelsea’s season after an uncharacteristic wobble in recent weeks had all but ended their hopes of defending their league title. Securing their third win in a row, however, will have been the perfect tonic to boost morale ahead of a month during which they will face the same opponents in the League Cup final before coming up against Arsenal in a mouthwatering Champions League quarter-final.
The Blues looked refreshed after having a week to prepare for this re-run of last year’s final. Bompastor made just one change to the side that had beaten Liverpool in the Women’s Super League last Sunday, with Lucy Bronze coming in for Sandy Baltimore.
United, in comparison, were involved in European football midweek with attention focused first on getting through a playoff encounter with Atlético Madrid. Spirits would have been high despite the quick turnaround after they had secured progression to the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time but the repercussions of that fixture were evident.
