Manchester United clinch first ever Women’s FA Cup with 4-0 thrashing of Spurs

LONDON (Agencies): Midfielder Ella Toone fired a stunning strike as Manchester United won the Women’s FA Cup for the first time with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the final on Sunday. Marc Skinner’s side, who lost in last year’s final to Chelsea, dominated the match and went ahead on the stroke of halftime through Toone’s screamer from outside the penalty box. A header from Rachel Williams and two goals from Spanish forward Lucia Garcia after the break sealed the first major trophy for United since the team reformed in 2018. “Wembley is always special. Last year we spoke as a group and said ‘one day that will be ours’ and today’s the day so I’m buzzing,” goalkeeper Mary Earps, who had little to do all afternoon, told the BBC on the pitch where she also won Euro 2022 with England. The atmosphere was buzzing on a sunny day at Wembley Stadium with 76,082 fans in attendance along with United’s co-owner Avram Glazer and Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy.

However, the first half produced few chances of note until the second minute of stoppage time when England’s Toone drove the ball forward and unleashed a powerful strike from outside the area into the top corner. Spurs, playing in their first FA Cup final in what is Swedish coach Robert Vilahamn’s debut campaign, drew 2-2 with United in the Women’s Super League last month but struggled to create any attacking threat, not registering a single shot on target, and capitulated after the break. United’s Williams, who previously played for Spurs and won the FA Cup with Birmingham City 12 years ago, climbed high to head in a free kick before Garcia pounced on a poor pass in the box from goalkeeper Becky Spencer to make it 3-0 in the 57th minute. Garcia added another via a deflection in the 74th as United salvaged a season in which they have struggled, sitting fifth in the league standings after being title challengers last year. “We don’t like to admit it but it does mask over the issues we’ve had,” goalscorer Williams, 36, told the BBC. “We have had some ups and downs this year. That’s for Marc (Skinner) and the backroom staff to be like ‘right, this is what we have to do in the summer’. “We are going to have change things next year. We have had some injuries, three or four ACLs, at the start of the season. “That’s football, teams go through transition. You have a good year, you have a dip. Next year we might just come back bigger, better and stronger and, who knows, we might just be lifting the league.”