Two-goal Sam Kerr said Chelsea team-mate Carly Telford gave her the idea to try the audacious lobbed finish to seal our 3-0 FA Cup victory over Arsenal.
We beat the Gunners at Wembley to win the FA Cup for the third time in our history and earn a domestic quadruple of WSL, FA Cup, Continental Cup and Community Shield for 2021.
The scoreline could have been even more emphatic, with Kerr one of several players to miss good first-half chances to add to Fran Kirby’s early strike, but player of the match Kerr doubled the lead with a superb run and clever near-post strike that wrong-footed goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger, and after taking on board some words of wisdom from Blues goalkeeper Telford at the interval, the Australian’s exquisite dinked effort on the run made it 3-0.
‘It could have been four or five nil in the first half,’ Kerr said. ‘It wouldn’t go in but we knew it was coming.
‘At half-time we hadn’t scored as many as we should. CT said she [Zinsberger] is off her line a lot. I hadn’t been finishing too well in the first half so I thought I would try and scoop her. It doesn’t come off too often but it did.
‘Whenever as a striker you are not putting them in the back of the net when they are simple chances you get a little frustrated.
‘But it’s about who can keep their head and we knew if we could get one more, we would probably bury them and we did. We got the second and went on to get the third and it was game over.
‘We deserved it. We played really well and have been playing well in the past few weeks. We kind of went in as underdogs so had a point to prove so we are buzzing.
‘Our defence was amazing, our midfield was electric. It was a real team effort.’
Kerr said the manner of our victory and the occasion, being the 50th Women’s FA Cup and one hundred years after women’s football was banned in this country, made it extra special.
‘We wanted, 100 years on, for it to be a day to remember and I think it will be,’ Kerr added.
’The crowd were amazing, especially behind the goal with all the Chelsea flags. Walking out and seeing all the blue was a real buzz.
‘To be able to put on a show in front of them means everything. This is what women’s football can do. It was buzz for me and I will remember this day forever.
‘When we scored you could feel the crowd right behind us. It pushed us over the line and then after the game it was nice to celebrate with fans and friends and family.’