Brighton Women 0 – 4 Man City Women

Manchester City completed a domestic double with a 4-0 win over Brighton in the Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley.

Andre Zeglertz’s side have already won the WSL this season – ironically winning after a 1-1 draw with Brighton Arsenal – and now mirror their success in 2016, when they last won the FA Cup and the league title.

It was Man City’s first visit to Wembley since 2022, when they lost to Chelsea in the same competition, while Brighton made history by making their first major final appearance.

The Seagulls also started brightly and had some hopes of an upset. Kiko Seike was the instigator, making penetrating runs from the right wing and a superb shot also blazed over the bar.

But once Man City started to click – and Khadijah ‘Bunny’ Shaw was allowed on the ball – they never looked back. The WSL Golden Boot winner inevitably opened things up too as he nodded home an Alex Greenwood cross.

Brighton asked for a VAR review as Chiamaka Nanadoji went down. But the goalkeeper never had control of the ball and was beaten in the air by Shaw.

Man City captain Greenwood then had a chance to contribute. He sent in a low free-kick that beat Nadoji at the near post, with the Seagulls stopper once again frustrated to let another goal slip by him.

The second half was a quieter affair, with Man City in control. Combined efforts from Shaw, Vivienne Miedema and Aoba Fujino saw them score a cracking third, with the latter curling home a superb effort.

Miedema finished things off late in the game with a wonderful header of his own, which Nnadozie couldn’t keep out. Amazingly, the striker won the FA Cup for the first time, finishing runners-up twice with Arsenal.

It capped off a fantastic debut season for Zeglartz and saw Man City win the FA Cup for the first time since 2020.

Shaw: A crazy few weeks

Man City Striker Khadijah ‘Bani’ Sh from TNT Sports: “It’s been a crazy few weeks. So many emotions. From not knowing where I’m going to be, to signing a contract, being here, to winning the FA Cup. The last time I was at Wembley, I lost, so I wanted to make amends today and we did that.

“I’m hard on myself. Sometimes the girls say I’m too hard on myself. It’s sometimes in training. Usually when you’re in training, you’re trying to correct mistakes, but they keep happening.

“I always watch my clips and see where I can be better and try to correct them in games, try to relive the action in games in training.”

In his new contract: “It’s been a long few months, a whole lot of different emotions, but I always said I wanted to be here. If I’m honest, it was very difficult, but in the end we did it and I’m happy about it.”

Man City boss Andre Zeglertz Shaw added: “A big credit to him that he thinks our program will make him better and he can win titles, but also to the club for being able to make it happen.

“It’s been a long process and they’ve been working very hard to get it on paper. It was a great thing that they made it before this game, but also before everyone left (for the summer).”

Jeglertz: My job now is to make sure we look for more

Man City boss Zeglartz TNT Sports: “We struggled a lot in the first half, but there’s something about this team. We have a lot of individual qualities and that’s what gave us the chance to win the game.

“That’s about it. We can focus a lot on the build-up and possession, but it’s what you do in the penalty area that wins the league for us.

“I think we struggled in our own build-up, we didn’t have what we were supposed to do. I was a bit upset at half-time because that’s the only thing we can ask. We can make mistakes, but if we don’t do what we agreed beforehand, we will struggle.

“We did a lot better in the second half, with Alex’s position, Caroline’s position, Aoba coming in. A big difference in the starting position.

“It’s one thing to build a team that can win the title once and win the FA Cup once, but there’s something about creating a winning culture where we’re winners now, what does that mean? How do we keep pushing and striving for more?

“That will be my job now, to make sure we are looking for more, we are coming in with confidence, but at the same time we have to work harder next year.

“We have to train more, we have to work harder in every training session, we have to be better at many things because defending a title is more difficult than winning a title… I’m looking forward to it.”

A great season cap with lessons for Man City Brighton

Analysis from Sky Sports’ Charlotte Marsh at Wembley:

In the end, a pretty easy win for Man City. Brighton offered early hope and will be disappointed not to make it a game more, after their 3-2 win over the same opposition just a few weeks ago.

But despite the current heartache, it was a breakthrough afternoon for a club that has been improving year on year.

This game can only serve as a goal to reach again and show them what more they need to do to compete regularly. The Seagulls have already shown glimpses of this, certainly in recent weeks.

Brighton are a club that have thrown their support behind not just their women’s team, but women’s football as a whole and will surely be back on the big stage before too long.

For Man City, it was another great afternoon in a season of wonderful moments.

Jeglertz transformed this team from a also-ran to a beatable team. He did a job, but Shaw will rightfully take the title. They could have been stronger had he decided to leave, but after another match-winning turn, Man City will be relieved to still have him in the ranks.

Greenwood picked up the player of the match award at Wembley and played his part. It was his second FA Cup win after winning it with Man City in 2020.

Finally a nice moment for Miedema. He has missed recent matches for personal reasons, but a superb goal in the FA Cup final capped off another great season on the pitch.

Vidosic: A somewhat unfair result for Brighton’s performance

Brighton manager Dario Vidosic: “As disappointed as we will be today, I think the result is a bit unfair to the girls especially for the way they performed and their effort.

“A few days ago, we were fighting to get five minutes of dominance against a Man City team and then to do what we did today at Wembley for the first time… for these girls to feel this day and to be brave enough to play, I’m really proud and we have a lot for the future.

“I’ll review the whole season and hopefully we’ll see how we go in the summer in terms of players who can come to the club.

“We always want to try and play to players’ strengths. The idea of ​​how we want to play will remain the same, but it’s always up to the players – we can’t ask someone to do something they can’t do or they’re not comfortable doing.

“We want to continue to make those strides and we can take a lot of confidence now, not just from today, but from what we’ve been able to do against some really, really good teams in the past weeks.

“It fills us with a lot of confidence through the disappointment, which will hurt for a little while, but hopefully we can use that motivation and that fire from pre-season through to next season.”

Kirby: Nobody put us in this position at the beginning of the season

Brighton midfielder Fran Kirby From TNT Sports: “Obviously it’s disappointing to lose the FA Cup final. It never feels good, but I’m really proud of the team and the performance we put in.

“Especially in the first half, I felt we controlled the game really well, admittedly, then a team line is really difficult to come back into the game against Man City.

“Nobody would have put us in this position at the start of the season and it’s been a really good learning curve for everyone who is part of the club.

“But I think you can see the difference today in the leadership, the experience and that’s what we need. We need more experience in the team, we need to build, push.

“Hopefully, with the performances we put in, we can get our name out there a bit more and help us bring in players who can put in consistent performances against our top four.

“That’s the ambition of the club, what we want as players and what Dario wants as manager. To be able to do that, I think we can come back here and give it really well.”