Manchester City Women 3 West Ham United 0

Manchester City lined up at Wembley in the Womens FA Cup Final hoping to secure a domestic cup double.

It seems a long time since Manchester City Women won the League Cup at Sheffield United after a penalty shoot out. In the interim an interrupted league campaign has shuddered to its conclusion and now all that remains is the possibility of glory at Wembley.

From the kick off this was a game which shaped up largely as we expected. West Ham had all the early endeavour but lacked the finesse to capitalise fully. City for all their possession looked stilted, missing the final pass.

West Ham took their plucky underdogs label pretty seriously and City found every aspect of the match harder than anticipated. The mens City team had wilted under similar circumstances at Wembley against Wigan.

More from Domestic Cups

• The FA Cup 1904; Manchester City’s First Trophy Ever
• Manchester City Bow Out of the Carabao Cup
• No, Man City’s EPL Match Against Chelsea Is Not a Champions League Dress Rehearsal
• Man City’s Carabao Victory Can be a Catalyst for the End of Their Season
• Why the European Super League is going to end Football

Jane Ross enjoyed the best of the exchanges and but for an excellent save by Karen Bardsley, would have scored the winner. West Ham had a penalty shout too but replays showed the player had dived.

Nikita Parris had the first shot of note for City but not until the 44th minute. This was going to be one of those games.

The second half started better for Manchester City who looked to have awoken from their slumber. Suddenly City found their width and began to make the pitch work for them. A loose ball came to Caroline Weir and she snatched at the shot, firing over.

Another chance came following a great break by Georgia Stanway but again the shot on goal by Keira Walsh when it came felt snatched. It just required a little composure on the ball.

It came a few minutes later from Walsh who moved the ball out from under her feet and struck from outside the box. Inexplicably the shot went past the Hammers Keeper and all of a sudden, City were in front.

The refereeing in the game was inconsistent throughout. Jill Scott was booked when she did not even touch the Hammers player. Nikita Parris was hacked down with no card given. Caroline Weir was brought down for a clear penalty which was not given.

City had a chance to put the result to bed but when Parris was through on goal her shot was easily saved. From the resulting corner West Ham had a breakaway but Lehman’s tame shot was hit straight at Bardsley.

As the game went on West Ham seemed to visibly tire and City began to exploit the space on the pitch. Tessa Wullearts crossed for Stanway to head just wide. But for some greater precision City would be 2 or 3 goals to the good.

With 10 minutes to go Stanway scored the 2nd of the game for City. A jinking run through the defence and she struck a low shot which the keeper could not get to. The last remaining energy just sapped out of West Ham.

Lauren Hemp came on for Parris and quickly added to the score with probably the pick of the bunch. A long ball found her running in space, the keeper rushed out and she looped a shot over the keeper and into the goal.

Hemp could have even have had a another goal but hit the post. Her running against the fatigue of West Ham was almost cruel.

The League Cup and FA Cup double is no mean feat, hopefully the Mens team can at least replicate that achievement in the coming weeks. However today is all about the women and they deservedly won the FA Cup with a dominant display.