The fabled magic of the cup is yet to truly cast its spell on the women’s game and London City Lionesses avoided a shock exit with a professional display to win at Sunderland.
Since the WSL kicked off in 2011, no side in the third tier or below has knocked out a top-tier club, and even second-tier clubs doing so has been a rarity.
Neither Birmingham beating top-tier Everton in 2023, nor an already promoted Leicester winning at Manchester United in 2021, the two most recent examples, could be remotely compared with Macclesfield’s men stunning Crystal Palace.
Had second-tier side Sunderland defied the 13 places between themselves and big-spending London City Lionesses, it would have been a surprise injection of drama into the increasingly predictable middle rounds of this competition.
A calm performance from London City dashed any chances of that and Wassa Sangaré’s glancing header from a Grace Geyoro corner early in the second half gave them the lead. They dominated most of the possession thereafter and the arrival of one of Sweden’s greatest players, Kosovare Asllani, from the bench only added to their control.
Sam Kerr scored her first goals in the Women's FA Cup since 2023 as she scored twice in Chelsea's 5-0 victory over Crystal Palace.
Millie Bright opened the scoring in the 13th minute when she nodded home from Erin Cuthbert's corner and Kerr doubled the lead nine minutes later. Things were threatening to get away from Palace when Guro Reiten tucked away a penalty after she was brought down inside the area.
Chelsea showed no mercy in the second half and scored twice more through Kerr five minutes after the break before Alyssa Thompson rounded off the scoring with 20 minutes to play. PA Media
It followed an away victory for another of the WSL’s London clubs, West Ham, away at Newcastle on Friday, with Rita Guarino’s side claiming a 3-0 win thanks to goals from Viviane Asseyi, Riko Ueki and Sarah Brasero-Carreira. So it was over to Sunderland to try their best.
Here, in theory, the scene was set for a quintessential cup upset as the dark outline of an unwelcoming-looking row of deciduous trees flanked one side of the ground stood under a low cloud, with fans leaning on the side of railings as they held steaming cups of coffee and a Ha’way the Lasses’ flag hanging from a brick wall behind one goal and a queue for a cafe winding behind the other.
Sunderland, 5-1 winners at Derby in the third round in December, were hosting a side whose new head coach, Eder Maestre, was taking charge of his second game in English football after a goalless draw at Liverpool in his WSL managerial debut. The slight bobbles in the pitch awill have felt a world away from his previous job managing in Tenerife.
Sunderland battled and set pieces offered them some glimmers, but Rhiannon Roberts’s blocked shot was perhaps as close as they came while at the other end their goalkeeper, Grace Moloney, did well to punch the ball clear when Isobel Goodwin looked set to head home. In the middle the class of Geyoro was obvious, making the pitch look like a carpet.
To their credit the home side defended well to keep the scoreline at 1-0 but the visitors were rarely troubled as Maestre got his first win in charge.
