Hemp's brace propels Man City into FA Cup final after 4-1 win against West Ham

By Football Reporter

Lauren Hemp struck twice as Manchester City cemented their place in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup final with a 4-1 victory against West Ham.

Strikes from Ellen White and Chloe Kelly put City in charge, though Lisa Evans pulled one back to keep the Hammers in contention.

Despite some West Ham pressure, Hemp’s second half brace ultimately sealed victory.

The visitors could have pulled ahead early on, White narrowly failing to get her head on Chloe Kelly’s cross and striking over the bar inside ten minutes.

The Hammers themselves threatened, a strong save from the outstretched Ellie Roebuck denying Dagny Brynjarsdottir in the 13th minute.

The visitors took the lead 22 minutes in, White pouncing and slotting home after Keira Walsh’s fierce strike rattled back off the bar.

White had a header disallowed after the ball went out of play before Lucy Bronze’s cross, then their second came when Hammers captain Gilly Flaherty’s pass was intercepted by Kelly, who struck past Mackenzie Arnold without trouble.

Yet, in a devastating counter attack, Evans rounded Roebuck and slotted home in the 42nd minute to keep the hosts in touch.

The Citizens thought they’d restored their two-goal advantage early in the second half but White saw another header disallowed - this time for offside.

And as West Ham continued to search for an equaliser, Tameka Yallop’s low effort just wide after a superb run broke the visitors’ defence.

But a moment of individual brilliance from Hemp sealed City’s third, the forward winning the ball just outside the box and cutting inside to power home.

And after further dominance, Hemp again rounded the Hammers’ defence and had a simple finish in the dying stages to make it four.

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West Ham manager Olli Harder said:

"There’s not much to take away as it’s a one-off game and you’re here to win the game - and we didn’t win the game. There’s lots of positives, a few things we could do better, but it’s a cup game, it’s one and done, and unfortunately for us now it’s done.

“City are an absolutely quality side. We know that, everybody knows that. We know that they dominate the majority of possession so our job was to control certain moments and create certain moments for ourselves. Similar to a few weeks ago, we’ve done that but didn’t quite have the final touches and unfortunately we made some poor decisions.

“There are lots of parts about the game plan that were really good and we caused them a lot of problems, we were in the game. The last couple of goals there, it sort of makes City look better which is unfortunate. They deserved to win today, they were far more clinical in front of goal.

"4-1 doesn’t necessarily represent certain moments and parts of control that we had in the game. Full credit to City and fair enough for walking away 4-1 winners, but from our side of the game we felt it was a lot closer.”

Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor said: “It was a good performance against a tough team. I was happy with elements of our play and we scored some good goals. We could have made it a little bit more comfortable for ourselves earlier one, but considering the lack of preparation time we had after the international break, players all over the place, and only one training session yesterday before we made the long journey down. I’m really delighted with the application shown and the quality of the players today.

On Lauren Hemp: “You know that Lauren is going to get chances. I thought she took her chances very well today. She was here two weeks ago and didn’t score and had a couple of good opportunities, some of them very similar, so she’s heading in the right direction. For top-end players it’s always about top end players and good decision making. Our front three today all scored, which is very position.”

West Ham (3-5-2): Mackenzie Arnold, Gilly Flaherty, Lisa Evans, Katerina Svitkova, Kate Longhurst, Tameka Yallop, Yui Hasegawa, Lucy Parker, Adriana Leon, Grace Fisk, Dagny Brynjarsdottir

Substitutes: Emma Snerle for Yallop 71’, Claudia Walker for Hasegawa 78’,

Substitutes not used: Emily Moore, Zaneta Wyne, Abbey-Leigh Stringer, Mel Filis, Lois Joel, Hawa Cissoko, Halle Houssein

Goals: Evans 42’

Manchester City (4-3-3): Ellie Roebuck, Demi Stokes, Alex Greenwood, Laura Coombs, Chloe Kelly, Lauren Hemp, Ellen White, Caroline Weir, Lucy Bronze, Keira Walsh, Alanna Kennedy

Substitutes: Hayley Raso for Kelly 62’, Georgia Stanway for Weir 70’, Bunny Shaw for White 70’, Filippa Angeldahl for Coombs 80’

Substitutes not used: Karima Taieb, Khiara Keating, Ruby Mace

Goals: White 22’, Kelly 37’, Hemp 66’, 90+1’,