Manchester United suffer heartbreak at Wembley despite a masterclass performance in the first half, as Chelsea walk away Vitality Women’s FA Cup winners for the fifth time in front of a record 77,000 crowd.
Sam Kerr got behind Maya Le Tissier on a counter-attack and tapped the ball beyond Mary Earps to break the stalemate.
A somewhat surprising score line considering United stunned the Blues within 20 seconds of kickoff when Leah Galton fired the ball into the back of the net, which was deemed offside. The same opportunity presented itself again at the half-hour mark.
Alessia Russo almost nudged the ball beyond Ann-Katrin Berger too, along with Millie Turner and Nikita Parris were brought down in the box, but to no avail.
It took 67 minutes for Chelsea to get ahead, Lauren James came close with a header in the first half but Mary Earps had it covered, nudging it onto the back post.
United almost forced an injury-time equaliser as Berger flailed at a cross before Buchanan cleared to end United’s hopes of a first major trophy, while Chelsea celebrated in front of 77,390 fans, a world record crowd for a domestic women’s cup match.
Player of the Match Kerr said: “I think it’s the sign of a great team, we didn’t have our best game but we pushed through. Everyone stuck at it and we got the win.
