Chelsea 3-1 Manchester United: Marc Skinner reflects on ‘bittersweet’ cup clash

Manchester United Women had a player sent off before they crashed out of the Conti cup tie.
 Vilde Boe Risa  pictured previously in action Credit: Getty Vilde Boe Risa  pictured previously in action Credit: Getty
Vilde Boe Risa pictured previously in action Credit: Getty

Chelsea made their third consecutive Conti Cup final with a 3-1 semi-final win at home to 10-woman Manchester United.

Pernille Harder, Jessie Fleming and Jess Carter scored across 15 first-half minutes to book the Blues’ place in the March showpiece event at Plough Lane, just over five miles away from tonight’s venue Kingsmeadow.

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Vilde Boe Risa scored United’s goal, while keeper Sophie Baggaley was sent off with 15 minutes to play for taking down Sam Kerr.

The opener came in the 26th minute, Harder battling her way past the last defender before stepping aside to calmly slot the ball home past the advancing Baggaley.

Five minutes later, Chelsea doubled their lead when Fleming’s header into the ground looped over Baggaley into the top of the United net.

The Red Devils struck back within a minute as former Blue Jackie Groenen played a clever backheel to set up Risa, who finished a clinical strike from a tight angle for her fourth goal of the season.

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Chelsea made it 3-1 with a well-worked move in the 39th minute. The passing movement across the pitch was crossed to a rapidly advancing Carter, who made no mistake from six yards out.

The second half saw strong defensive performances from both sides. Danish forward Signe Bruun made her Manchester United debut, coming on with 25 minutes to play.

Baggaley was sent off in the 77th minute, taking down substitute Kerr outside the box on the Australian’s return from AFC Asian Cup duty. Chelsea squandered the resulting free-kick well wide.

Emma Hayes’ side now seek to retain the trophy next month and extend their hold on all England’s domestic football honours.

‘ We have closed the gap’

Manager Marc Skinner of Manchester United Women Credit: GettyManager Marc Skinner of Manchester United Women Credit: Getty
Manager Marc Skinner of Manchester United Women Credit: Getty
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Marc Skinner, Manchester United manager, said after the game: “It’s a little bit bittersweet in terms of for us to just perform a little bit better [but not win] because I know my group wants to win these games and we know how difficult they are.

“But we want to be in positions to win this so it’s a bit bittersweet but we have closed the gap, we’ve got better. I felt that in the first game we gave Chelsea a lot of their their goals, in this game I think we can defend better and stop their goals.

“It’s really good run by Jess [Carter] and so on but if we kept our positions and we defend that 4v1 they don’t go into those spaces. So we’ve definitely got better and we’ll continue to get better we just know that in these games when you come up against the likes of Chelsea you’ve got to take those moments and we’re going to keep working at that.”

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