Match in Focus: Manchester United cling on to end Chelsea's FA Cup defence

In a tense and fraught encounter, two early goals from Marc Skinner's Manchester United was enough to eliminate Chelsea from a second domestic cup in the space of a month at Leigh Sports Village...

Lucia Garcia’s goal inside 60 seconds set Manchester United on the way to Wembley. Image: The FA

On the pattern of the final hour of the game, it would have been scarcely believable for Manchester United to record their first win against Chelsea, but after 30 minutes where the visitors couldn’t get to grips with their set up and a disciplined defensive showing did the job for the hosts who head to a second FA Cup final in succession.

Yet based on that first 30, Chelsea would have been pleased to have been in the game at all as twice Man United exploited their right-hand side and twice Leah Galton and Ella Toone between them placed pin-point crosses onto the heads of Lucia Garcia and Rachel Williams respectively.

The first, which came inside the first 60 seconds, set the tone, as it could have back at Wembley back in May had an offside flag not intervened, and Emma Hayes rued a slow start which her side did recover from to pin United back for most of the second half, but were denied by some solid defending, superb goalkeeping and certainly a few debatable decisions inside the United box.

It wasn’t just the referee’s decision making which Hayes was flustered with though as she turned to her bench and shouted “decision making” as substitute Aggie Beever-Jones drove an effort into the side-netting deep into stoppage time, with almost every Chelsea attacker available crammed inside the box waiting for a ball in.

For Hayes, it’s another trophy gone on a farewell tour which is threatening to fizzle out, while for Marc Skinner it’s the injection needed for an under-pressure manager who now has a clearer shot at a first major trophy, with fellow first-time potential FA Cup winners Tottenham Hotspur waiting in the final after beating Leicester City.

Here’s five key takeaways from the match in WFC’s view…

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Marc Skinner’s bold calls pay-off

Chelsea’s starting eleven raised few eyebrows when the teams were announced at 1:35pm, but United’s definitely caused a few in the press room. Aoife Mannion in at right-back, while perennial super sub Rachel Williams led the line, with all three of Geyse, Melvine Malard and Nikita Parris left on the bench.

If it was part of the masterplan to use Williams as the focal point to get them into the lead and unleash the pace and energy off the bench to launch counter-attacks in the second half, it worked, and it appears it was.

Within 60 seconds, Galton pounced on a miss-kick from Eve Perisset whose floated ball for Garcia was inch-perfect and raised the roof at Leigh Sports Village.

It was almost shades of last season, given the personnel involved.

Williams has rarely let her manager or her team down when called upon and scored at vital moments both this season and last, and yet again she popped up with a huge semi-final as she did 12 months ago against Brighton & Hove Albion.

"It [Wembley] sounds nice,” said Skinner post-match. “We needed to do something different to what we usually do against Chelsea. We're a football team and when we've opened Chelsea up we've been countered.

“Today it was being a bit more direct and sacrificing off the ball. I've got Tooney at half-time saying she's doing doggies, but she understood it. The capability of the whole team outweighs the attacking part today and we should admire that because today the defending as a collective was great."

"Chelsea have an incredible squad depth and that brings it's different challenges for Emma. but you need your players to step up in one-off games and that save from Mary...there's a David Seaman save from years ago, that's up there for me to push it out and keep it away. Maya, Millie, Aoife, blocking; my midfielders blocking. The forwards were pressing, an incredible feeling for them."

"We wanted to give Chelsea’s [back] four three real threats and we did that. Rachel, Leah, Lucia. Chelsea wouldn't have expected to see Rachel I imagine, they can outrun you and we had to be compact.”

Naturally, the onslaught from Chelsea came, and Skinner would have been frustrated to see the visitors score in the 50th-minute of the first half, but on this occasion he got his changes right as Chelsea bombarded his side’s box for most of the second half.

Hayley Ladd came on for Toone for protect the defence, while both of Parris and Malard immediately offered an outlet on the counter, and while often it wasn’t pretty, it was enough.