Arsenal Women are finally back in business – they’ve won a trophy for the first time since 2016 with their 1-0 defeat against Manchester City in the Conti Cup.

It was a game of two halves, with Arsenal dominant in the first part of the game, while City were all over us in the second half and could/should have scored at least one goal. But heroic and committed defending from the 11 Arsenal players led to a clean sheet and a 1-0 win.

2How it played out

HIGH WYCOMBE, ENGLAND – MARCH 14: Dominique Janssen, Vivianna Miedema, Sari Van Veenedaal and Danielle Van De Donk of Arsenal Women celebrate with the trophy after the WSL Continental Cup Final between Arsenal Women and Manchester City Ladies at Adams Park on March 14, 2018 in High Wycombe, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

In the first half, Arsenal were very dominant on the ball and on top. They did not let City deploy their usual attacking style with quite a high pressing. The passing was fluent with Janssen, Nobbs and Little seeing a lot of the ball.

One problem was clear though. With City’s tight defense, it was hard to get the ball to Miedema as she is not as mobile as all the other forwards. But she is a top class striker and knows where the goal is. On her first chance, she put it in the back of the net for what ended up being the winning goal.

The ball moved to the left wing where, following a lot of interchanges, Dominique Janssen was there to put in a good cross towards Bethany Mead. The forward couldn’t get to it but Beattie’s header wasn’t controlled either. Miedema’s touch put her round Demi Stokes and she scored from six yards.

The game was very much stop-start with the referee whistling plenty of fouls and booking two Arsenal players in the first half, but no City players despite having many occasions to do so.

Arsenal held onto their 1-0 scoreline until halftime, which is just as well because the second half was the total opposite from the first. City woke up from their sleepy first half and Arsenal were unable to keep pressing due to tiredness and lack of match fitness for many players.

It resulted in a backs-to-the-wall situation and ferocious defending including a goal-line clearance to keep a seventh clean sheet in a row. It was a fantastic defensive effort, as good as the attacking one in the first half.

All the players worked really hard to keep City out, including a massive display from Danielle van de Donk, who was running everywhere to cover and extremely disciplined to help Dominique Janssen.

HIGH WYCOMBE, ENGLAND - MARCH 14: Jill Scott of Manchester City competes for a header with Danielle Van de Donk of Arsenal whilst also under pressure from Vivianne Miedema of Arsenal during the WSL Continental Cup Final between Arsenal Women and Manchester City Ladies at Adams Park on March 14, 2018 in High Wycombe, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
HIGH WYCOMBE, ENGLAND – MARCH 14: Jill Scott of Manchester City competes for a header with Danielle Van de Donk of Arsenal whilst also under pressure from Vivianne Miedema of Arsenal during the WSL Continental Cup Final between Arsenal Women and Manchester City Ladies at Adams Park on March 14, 2018 in High Wycombe, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

The back four were solid and seem to be gelling well now. Sari Van Veenendaal was also solid and caught everything thrown at her goal.

As Arsenal were under the cosh for most of the second half, there was not much going forward. It was disappointing to see the team playing deep and unable to hold the ball. It was a risque game plan to invite pressure from City and try to soak it.

The technical leaders didn’t get on the ball and were unable to retain it due to tiredness and Joe Montemurro made the right substitutions: Danielle Carter for Anna Miedema, Heather O’ Reilly for Bethany Mead and Katie McCabe for Kim Little. All three contributed well.

I think winning the Conti Cup should boost the team’s confidence greatly and remind the players that they can be winners. Something that was lost in the last couple of seasons.

Kim Little has already indicated that they want to do well in the league and get back to qualifying for the Champions League. This has not happened since 2012, so there is a lot of hard work to do to get back in.

This was the fifth FA WSL Continental Tyres Cup trophy for the club and players like Alex Scott, Jordan Nobbs and Danielle Carter.