Lauren James set the Blues on the path to the Continental Tyres League Cup final with an early goal at Manchester City on Thursday night, but in the second half the Blues had to hold firm in the face of plenty of attacking play from the home side. Hannah Hampton in the Chelsea goal more than played her part in the 1-0 win.

‘It was absolutely superb from Hannah from start to finish. It brings confidence to the back-line. Her ability to play out from the back plus making saves like she did, she is growing in a Chelsea shirt and her alongside Sjoeke Nusken were players of the match for us.’

James had scored as early as the eighth minute. Her goal eventually gave Chelsea Women our first win over Man City in four games.

‘It was a great finish from Lauren and exactly where we wanted to exploit them,’ noted the Blues manager. ‘We took that opportunity really, really well on the counter.

‘It felt like the reverse fixture to two weeks ago, where they went 1-0 up early and then defend in great numbers in the second half. It was the same for us in this game.

‘We scored early and had the better of the first half and defended really, really well, with the unbelievable performance from Hannah. At this level you have to take your chances and we took our one chance.

‘We only had one registered centre-back, I had to play Nusken there, and one centre-forward, and I lost Ramirez tonight,’ Hayes added, ‘so we were pretty thin so it was a tremendous result for the team and gutsy from us.

‘Since Christmas we have got better defensively, we’ve been much better organised and much tougher to break down. There aren't a lot of things between these two teams and I think they've been in a stronger position. They've had fewer games than us. They've been able to play the same line-up. I haven't.

‘So for us to do what we did in this game is a real credit to the whole team.’

Before the Conti Cup final comes a home match versus Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. Grab your tickets now!