Misery for Mary Fowler as Chelsea win League Cup closing | USAEMALL.com

Mary Fowler’s dream of a first trophy with Manchester City have been dashed as Chelsea won their Women’s League Cup final duel 2-1, wrapping up the first leg of their quest for a unique ‘quadruple’.

But Chelsea’s triumph in the first of four matches to be played between the two English powerhouse sides in 12 days also set up the tantalising prospect of a fit-again Sam Kerr soon being back to help their push for four trophies in a single campaign.

There was nothing but disappointment for Fowler at Derby’s Pride Park on Saturday as the Matildas’ star delivered yet another fine performance in her impressive season, only for one unfortunate moment to ruin her afternoon.

With the game still locked at 1-1 in the 77th minute, Fowler gave the ball away to Chelsea’s Aggie Beever-Jones, who slipped the ball down the right flank to Mayra Ramirez, whose low cross was sliced into her own net by the unfortunate Japanese international Yui Hasegawa.

It gifted the Blues yet another victory, their 26th in 28 matches since French boss Sonia Bompastor took the reins from Emma Hayes at the start of the season, in their still-unbeaten campaign.

It was still too early for Matildas’ skipper Kerr to feature in their final line-up even though she was this week included by Bompastor in their Women’s Champions League squad after her long recovery from knee surgery.

But the Blues demonstrated yet again how they’ve managed to thrive without their goalscoring talisman as an eighth-minute strike from Ramirez and the Hasegawa own goal proved enough for them to earn them their first League Cup win for four years.

City, under interim boss Nick Cushing following the shock departure of coach Gareth Taylor at the start of the week, had answered Ramirez’s early goal with a terrific strike from Aoba Fujino in the 64th minute, and matched the champions for long spells.

Fowler was a constant threat working down the left flank, setting up one glorious opportunity in particular in the 69th minute when she robbed Lucy Bronze just outside the box, leading to City’s star striker Khadija Shaw, not at her sharpest all afternoon, getting thwarted one-on-one with keeper Hannah Hampton.

The powerful Colombian Ramirez gave Chelsea the lead against the run of play. Put through by a clever Lauren James through ball, she bundled in the rebound after her orginal shot was saved.

She could have put the match to bed later in the first half but over-elaborated when one-on-one with Hampton, eventually firing wide with the goal at her mercy.

That profligacy was an illustration of why Kerr’s return cannot come quick enough for Bompastor, who’ll need the Australian as the challenges now come thick and fast.

This was the first of their ‘tetralogy’ against City, with a two-legged Champions League quarter-final and Women’s Super League match to come over the next dozen days.

“We know now we are in a really decisive moment of the season, and we know every game will be important,” said Bompastor, whose side are running away with the WSL and are also in the last-eight of the Women’s FA Cup.

“This is our mindset and we just want to make sure at the end we grab as many trophies as we can, knowing it will be really difficult.”