Manchester City comfortably fought off Brighton & Hove Albion at Wembley Stadium to win the Adobe Women’s FA Cup and achieve a domestic double.
Andrée Jeglertz’ side has now added a second trophy to their already successful Women’s Super League campaign, where they won the division for the first time in a decade a few weeks ago.
Despite Brighton’s efforts, City were too dominant in the second half, as goals from Khadija Shaw and Alex Greenwood in the first 45 were followed by two further strikes from Aoba Fujino and Vivianne Miedema.
Albion started off on the front foot early on and held the bulk of the possession as they progressed the ball heavily into City’s half.
Four minutes in, Fran Kirby almost found the back of the net, but her shot was deflected out to Kiko Seike, whose rebounding curling effort went just wide of the left side of the crossbar.
The Seagulls almost took the lead when Alex Greenwood cleared the ball off the line; however, play was stopped as Madison Hayley collided with Ayaka Yamashita, who received treatment from the City physios, before continuing to play on.
Maisie Symonds attempted an ambitious effort from distance as Brighton caught City out on the counterattack, but the Albion captain’s strike went wide of Yamashita’s goal.
The Seagulls continued to shift through the gears, as Kirby’s shot was blocked by Yamashita, where it then fell to Seike, who punted the ball over the bar.
City, though, began to grow their way into the action around half an hour in, and were rewarded for their efforts as they took the lead 37 minutes in.
On the left wing, Hemp pulled the ball back to Greenwood, who pumped a ball deep to the back-post, where it met the leaping head of Shaw, to put Man City ahead.
Despite Albion pushing for an equaliser, City struck the net again right on half-time via Greenwood from a set-piece.
The Citizens’ captain finessed her free-kick from the edge of the 18-yard box, into the bottom left-hand corner of Chiamaka Nnadozie’s goal to make it 2-0, four minutes into the additional seven minutes of added time.
HALF-TIME: Brighton & Hove Albion 0-2 Manchester City
Jeglertz’ side continued to dominate the second 45, as Kerolin Nicoli dazzled her way into the box, before teeing up Grace Clinton, whose shot down the throat of Nnadozie’s net was comfortably saved.
City made a double change an hour gone, as Vivianne Miedema and Aoba Fujino replaced both Nicoli and Clinton.
It was then eventually a third for the WSL Champions, when Shaw burst her way forward on the attack, as she found Fujino, who smashed home Miedema’s dummy of the ball, to make it 3-0.
Sydney Lohmann and Mary Fowler also came on for City, while Albion introduced both Rachel McLauchlan and Nadine Noordam.
With just over five minutes to go, Shaw received a standing ovation from the City end, but so did Laura Coombs, who came on for her final ever appearance in football.
The Citizens then firmly sealed the deal with three minutes to go, as Miedema’s nodded down header from Kerstin Casparij’s cross into the area flew into the net to make it 4-0.
FULL-TIME: Brighton & Hove Albion 0-4 Manchester City
Brighton XI: 1. Nnadozie (GK), 33. Rule (5. Mpomé), 18. Hayes, 3. Minami, 2. Vanegas, 8. Symonds (C) (17. Rayner), 10. Čanković, 19. Olislagers (27. McLauchlan), 11. Seike (6. Kafaji), 14. Kirby (15. Noordam), 21. Haley (Formation: 4-4-1-1)
Unused subs: 32. Baggaley (GK), 15. Noordam, 20. Tvedten, 23. Camacho, 29. Tsunoda
Manager: Dario Vidošić
Manchester City XI: 31. (GK), 4. Rose, 27. Knaak, 5. Greenwood (C), 18. Casparij, 19. Blindkilde Brown (22. Lohmann), 25. Hasegawa, 11. Hemp (8. Fowler), 14. Kerolin (20. Fujino), 6. Clinton (10. Miedema), 9. Shaw (7. Coombs) (Formation: 3-4-2-1)
Unused subs: 1. Cumings (GK), 15. Ouahabi, 28. Prior, 46. Murphy
Goals: Shaw 38’, Greenwood 45+6’, Fujino 66’, Miedema 87’
Bookings: Knaak 54’
Manager: Andrée Jeglertz
Referee: Melissa Burgin
Venue: Wembley Stadium
Attendance: 43, 917
Player of The Match: Alex Greenwood
