Chelsea FCW

Chelsea sealed their place in the first final off the season the Subway Women’s League Cup after a 2-0 win over West Ham United at Kingsmeadow.

Goals in the first half from Johanna Rytting Kaneryd and Sjoeke Nusken were enough to break down a stubborn West Ham side 

The headline be from the team news at Kingsmeadow was Keira Walsh’s first Chelsea start, having made her debut against Aston Villa at the weekend, with both sides eyeing a spot in the Subway Cup Final.

On a bitter night in South West London, Chelsea got us underway, with the Blues doing a lot of the early running and getting touches on the ball early, Both teams had varied results to get to this stage, with this West Ham’s second London Derby in as many rounds, overcoming Spurs 2-1 in the Quarter Finals, whilst Chelsea breezed aside Durham 6-0 at the same stage to set up this tie, 

Some good pressing from Sjoeke Nusken set Guro Reiten away for the first inroad down the Blues’ left - but West Ham defended it very well and got the ball away, with the first chance coming courtesy of good running by Ashley Lawrence down the right, pulling the ball back to Guro Reiten, with the wingers poking the ball wide. 

West Ham stayed compact in the first 15 minutes, not allowing Chelsea any clear cut chances, but Guro Reiten found herself in space from a free kick after being found by Niamh Charles, with the winger heading over the bar. Chelsea then had another clever set piece, with Maika Hamano rolling a short free kick to Keira Walsh on the edge, but the midfielders effort was charged down well.

It took twenty minutes for the Blues to open the scoring, with Johanna Rytting Kaneryd getting the ball on the right hand side of the area and lashing an effort inside Kinga Smezik’s near post to send early relief surging around Kingsmeadow. 

Chelsea were getting more joy down their left and Guro Reiten found herself in too much space from a West Ham point of view, and somehow the ball couldn’t be turned home.

Just before the halfway hour, Chelsea made it two, with some good pressing from Nusken eventually seeing the big German race through on goal after a good ball from Reiten, Nusken then rounded the goalkeeper and calmly slot the ball home to double the hosts advantage. Chelsea were keen to put the game to bed and almost had a third four minutes later, when Niamh Charles popped the ball inside to Hamano, with the Japanese Playmaker’s near post effort beaten away by Szmezik.

The Hammers tried to up their ante after going two down and were definitely creating more probing play in the final third, but Oona Siren scuffed a ball on the edge of the box which sort of summed up the Irons’ attacking threats as Chelsea were able to clear confidently. Eva Nostrum had to be alert at the other end, excellently tracking back and blocking a goal bound Mayra Ramirez effort to keep score at just two going into half time.

HT - Chelsea 2-0 West Ham United

West Ham got the second half underway but it was the Blues who were once again controlling the play and not allowing West Ham out, with a huge chance to make it three on the 51st minute, as a lung busting Mayra Ramirez run and cross found Kaneryd at the back stick, with the Swede unable to properly adjust and fired her effort high and wide, the Colombian almost had a chance to add to the tally herself, but was unable to catch her effort and it rolled into the arms of Smezik.

The Chelsea pack was then shuffled, with Ashley Lawrence and Mayra Ramirez replaced by Lauren James and Aggie Beaver Jones respectively, with West Ham also introducing Seraina Piubel in place of Shekeira Martinez. 

Wieke Kaptein then came on just shy of the hour, to replace Maika Hamano, with West Ham also making a double change, with Eva Nystrom and Oona Siren coming off for Danny Brynjarsdottir and Camila Saez respectively to try and inject some pace back into the game, Saez indeed had a chance about two minutes after coming on, looping her header over the bar, with Manuela Pavi replacing Riko Ueki for the Hammers. 

Some neat interplay from West Ham created another chance, with Viv Asseyi threading Kirsty Smith through down the wing, but her effort was well stopped by Hannah Hampton in the Chelsea goal.

Oriane Jean Francois was then introduced for the final ten minutes in place of the scorer of the first goal, Johanna Kaneryd, with Millie Bright lashing an effort over the bar in an attempt to add gloss onto the Chelsea scoreline after cries of ‘Shoot’ from the Blues Faithful.

The signal for three minutes added time was navigated with ease by the hosts, as they extended their unbeaten run uto twenty two matches, and sealed their place in the first final of the 2024/2025 Season.

Full Time - Chelsea 2-0 West Ham

Goals - Rytting Kaneryd 20’, Nusken 29’