Arsenal: Van Domselaar; Fox, Williamson, Wubben-Moy, Catley; Cooney-Cross, Wälti; Russo, Maanum, Mariona; Blackstenius
Substitutes: Zinsberger, Codina, Mead, McCabe, Kafaji, Foord, Nighswonger, Ilestedt, Reid
Arsenal are out of the Subway Cup after losing 2-1 to Manchester City. Arsenal produced perhaps the worst half of football under Renée Slegers in the first half, falling behind to Mary Fowler’s strike. Mariona equalised with a penalty, but Fowler won the match for City in the final minute.
Renée Slegers made one change to the team that beat the visitors last weekend. Lia Wälti came into the starting lineup, and Beth Mead dropped to the bench, with Mariona moving to the left. Caitlin Foord and Katie McCabe returned to the bench after injury and suspension respectively.
City started had the first chance. Miedema played to Kerolin, who looked to stretch Fox. She played back to Roord, who struck with her left foot, and Van Domeslaar saved at the second attempt.
Casparij then ballooned a shot over the bar after Fowler had appeared to foul Wubben-Moy when stretching to get on a through ball. City, though, were fairly dominant, with Arsenal unable to get their forward players into the game.
Fowler then shot sharply from the corner of the box after a loose Mariona backpass, with the shot flashing over the bar. After 20 minutes of City control, Van Domselaar went down for the tactical timeout.
Mary Fowler gave City the lead on 26 minutes. Miedema dribbled past Cooney-Cross and Wälti and played behind Wubben-Moy to Fowler. She struck first time and drilled a shot into the far corner. 0-1.
Blackstenius shot over from a rare Arsenal attack.
City nearly made it 2-0 on 40 minutes. Kerolin had gotten away from Fox, and then Fujino found Roord on the edge of the area. Unchallenged, she forced Van Domselaar to save with an outstretched hand, and Fowler put the ball away, only to see the flag go up.
Fujino then forced Van Domselaar to save at her near post.
Van Domselaar then parried Kerolin’s cross, but straight to Fujino. She tried to volley straight back, but Catley blocked, and Arsenal were able to clear. Mercifully, when the half time whistle blew, Arsenal were only a goal behind.
Kerolin hit the post on 49 minutes from a mishit cross, and then Fujino, getting Catley to back away from her, shot and hit the crossbar, all after Cooney-Cross had lost possession with a slack pass.
Mariona then went on a run, won the ball back from Knaak after running into her, and shot just over from the edge of the box with her left foot.
Wubben-Moy then charged with the ball from the back, and with City backing off and Wubben-Moy shifting away from Hasegawa, sh kept going until she reached the edge of the box. She lined up a shot, but it went just over.
From the goal kick, Blackstenius should’ve equalised. Mariona quickly played to her, but she mishit her shot under pressure.
Blackstenius won a penalty on 57 minutes. Blackstenius was sent away by Maanum down the left half-channel, and when Knaak went to ground, she made contact with Blackstenius before the ball. Blackstenius stayed on her feet, but the referee pointed to the spot. Mariona stepped up to the spot, and dinked her penalty beyond Yamashita. 1-1.
But, 2 minutes later, City won a penalty. Fowler received possession from Hasegawa, with her back to Wubben-Moy. She looked to turn, but was clipped by Cooney-Cross. Fowler stepped to spot, but she didn’t get shot straight down the middle, and Van Dosmelaar stood tall and palmed the shot away.
Casparij set off through the middle, and then looked for Fujino. She worked the ball to Fowler, in a central position, but Cooney-Cross blocked the shot.
Arsenal made a double switch on 75 minutes. Katie McCabe replaced Steph Catley and Caitlin Foord replaced Frida Maanum, with Alessia Russo going to a central position.
Williamson tried to play Blackstenius in, but the striker was just offside.
Jill Roord almost won the tie for City in the 90th minute. Park played wide to Fujino who crossed for Roord, whose header was strong but just wide of the post with Van Domselaar stranded.
There were 5 minutes of added time.
Mary Fowler won the tie with the virtually the final kick of the game. Receiving possession on the edge of the penalty area, and then fired a shot into the bottom right corner, with Van Domselaar helpless. 1-2.
Wow, at the end, I really wanted Arsenal to go through, the performance wasn’t that good, football is an unknown, we need to focus on the FA Cup, WCL, but this performance has to improve.
I hope Russo returns to the 9 position, she was scoring 1 goal per game, it’s a waste to have her on the wing.
It’s what I was thinking during the match. She was on a run scoring in every game until the Chelsea match and hasn’t been leading the line since. Hope she can rediscover that scoring momentum when she eventually plays up top again.
Poor day at the office for all. Had to happen eventually. Not much point trying to analyse that performance. Oh well FA Cup next then!
I thought they actually did well to bring it to 1-1 despite being the inferior team on the day. Reminded me of how Chelsea so often manage to win games like that but we didn’t manage to pull it off in the end.
Disappointed but we were second best. Was hoping to see Russo back up front and Catley at LCB. I assume due to fitness and availability (Kelly) we couldn’t field a different line up. A bad day at the office but still plenty to go for.
It was a little below par, maybe, but having the choice I would rather take three points from Sunday. Russo is always busy, always so good but she is so obviously out of position and Mariona was slow getting into her stride.
Not too disappointed, enjoyed the match very much.