Marc Skinner expresses delight as Man United Women win the FA Cup | OneFootball

Manchester United Women delivered a dominant performance as they beat Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 at Wembley to secure the team’s first ever major trophy.

Goals from Ella Toone, Rachel Williams and a brace from Lucia Garcia proved to be the difference for the Red Devils in the greatest day in the team’s history since being reformed in 2018.

United coach Marc Skinner was under no illusions about how important getting that first piece of silverware on Sunday afternoon was.

Speaking to the BBC he claimed, “we are obviously not where we want in the league right? But we are history makers for Manchester United. I didn’t need to remind the owners of that, they know. There is a lot of support and love for our team and the growth.”

“We want to compete for titles but you all know how important adding that first piece of silverware is. We’ve got nothing but growth ahead.”

The former Birmingham City boss also discussed the sense of relief he felt when Ella Toone rifled in the opener, rather than elation.

“In all honesty I felt that first half was just frustration because we didn’t score, I thought we offered more of a threat, we controlled most of their threat. As much as I am exhausted now it is a magical feeling. Tooney scored one of those goals at Leicester but it is another thing to do it at Wembley.”

The 41-year-old coach also passed on some advice to his star attacker after the game when he stated, “I told her [Toone] on the podium you have to feel it, remember it because it comes and goes too quick, and that is what she did. Congratulations to her and the team, we are FA Cup winners.”

The manager was then asked about the thorny issue of the crucially important Mary Earps’ contract situation. “That is a decision to be made later, it is not a conversation for now. I’m sure it does help but me and Mary have a great relationship. Of course I would love her to stay. She is an FA Cup winner,” he responded.

Skinner finished by claiming that the team needs a mixture of youth and experience to begin to compete for league titles and that there needed to be a little bit of “reinvention” of the side moving forward.

“I know we can challenge but we need to invest. I am sure we will, INEOS has been a breath of fresh air since they’ve come in, a real invigorating moment. I hope that can help us push forward next season.”

Opening goal scorer Ella Toone also gave her thoughts on what unfolded on a magical afternoon in the London sun: “It feels amazing. We came here last year and saw what it takes to win an FA Cup. We fell short then and we knew this time that we were hungrier than ever to get a result. We put on a great performance today and I am buzzing we managed to get the win.”

Toone then opened up on the importance of scoring just before half time, revealing she had “been practising every day in training, those types of shots from outside the box, the girls will tell you. As soon as I hit it, it felt like one of them that I knew instantly was going in.”

“For us it was a great time to score, just ahead of half time, it is always nice to get a goal then and come out for the second half a goal up.”

Toone has a wonderful record at Wembley as she also famously scored for England in the Euro finals versus Germany in 2022. Speaking on her experiences at the famous old stadium she said, “I don’t know! I wish I could play here every week! It is a great stadium, the home of football and it is a place every young player dreams of playing at.”

United’s women team have one more challenge ahead of them when they welcome second placed Chelsea to Old Trafford in the season finale.

The FA Cup success is a huge success for the club and they will be looking at using the first major trophy as a springboard to challenge for the title and bring Champions League football to Old Trafford for the first time in their history.

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