Man Utd 4-0 Spurs (WFA Cup Final) | Robert’s verdict | OneFootball

Robert Vilahamn spoke only of pride after our Adobe Women’s FA Cup journey ended in heartbreak at the final stage with a 4-0 loss to Manchester United on Sunday afternoon.

Having put in a hard-fought performance in the first 45 minutes, limiting United to only notable opportunities from set-pieces, it took a stunning 22-yard strike from Ella Toone to break the deadlock in additional time of the first half.

And, despite trying to pick ourselves up from the blow on the stroke of half time, United took full control 15 minutes into the second half after two goals in quick succession from Rachel Williams and Lucia Garica.

Bethany England saw her header smash against the crossbar in what seemed like our last hope of staging a comeback before Garcia grabbed United’s fourth and her second of the afternoon to help them claim the FA Cup.

Speaking to The Review Show afterwards, Robert said: “We want to compete and we want to go for the trophy and, in the first half, we do that but then in the second half, they get a few goals and we then can’t compete. I feel a bit of emptiness but I’m also proud, we are at Wembley.

“This is not the end, it’s the beginning. We need to learn from this experience, but I’m also very proud of the players as they pushed themselves to the end and the fans because they stayed and cheered for us. I’m disappointed, but also very proud inside me.

“Today is to let them (players) be sad, angry and show what other feelings they want because that’s part of it but, when we come back on Tuesday, we need to make sure we learn from this by watching clips of what was good and what we could do better, then a new chance on Wednesday (against Chelsea).”

It has been a historic journey as reach the final of the competition for the first time in our history – just five years after becoming a professional side – but Robert is keen for this to be a springboard for the future.

“I was very happy and proud before the game as I felt we deserved to be here because we have produced good performances and you can tell our fans want to be here as well, of course, we are not happy we couldn’t compete for 90 minutes, but we want to be back,” he added.

“We know we are going to be in sixth-place in the league and we are in the final of the FA Cup, so we are going to go into the summer break and go ‘we have had a really good first year’ and we have something to build on, make sure next season is starting on a real high level, I’m looking forward to that.”

Watch - Vilahamn on learnings to take from Wembley