Arsenal Women 1-2 Manchester City Women: League Cup semi-final report by Layth Yousif at Meadow Park

A last-gasp winner by Manchester City’s Mary Fowler was enough to break Arsenal hearts on a bitterly cold night at Meadow Park.

City’s lively Australian attacker grabbed her second goal of a hard-fought game in the 95th minute to send the Gareth Taylor’s side through to the League Cup final next month.

Holders Arsenal had equalised Fowler’s 26th minute opener through Mariona Caldentey’s 68th minute penalty, before Daphne van Domselaar saved Fowler’s spot-kick moments later.

On a day when the reprehensible Alan Brazil revealed his utter ignorance of the women’s game, not to mention amplifying sinister hateful undertones, the absence of Manchester City’s Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw from this clash - the star striker prioritising her mental health by taking a self-enforced break after suffering dreadful racist and misogynistic abuse - was a reminder that not everyone wishes the best for female footballers and the sport.

Such lazy ‘punditry’ - if indeed hideous dinosaur Brazil’s tedious opining from a position of arrant stupidity can be termed even the most basic punditry - leaves a lasting effect on all polluted by such irresponsible nonsense.

City boss Taylor said: "We are right behind her as a club. Let's see how she is over the next couple of days, and we can go from there."

Let’s hope that the talented Shaw was at least encouraged by the appalled reaction by so many to Brazil’s hateful rant.

The City striker would surely also have been delighted by her side’s excellent start against Renee Slegers’ side, when the match finally got underway half an hour late, at 730pm, due to the late arrival of the ambulance, a statutory requirement at every game, after paramedic team were delayed due to ‘disruption’.

In a busy start under Boreham Wood’s floodlights amid chilly temperatures on the North London / Hertfordshire border, City’s Kerolin Nicoli fed former Gunner Jill Roord, whose effort was saved by Gunners keeper van Domselaar.

City looked in the mood for revenge, after the Gunners had beaten them 4-3 in their WSL thriller in Manchester last weekend.

On 14 minutes Kerstin Casparij fired over, prior to Mary Fowler’s effort flying over the bar six minutes later.

However, such dominance eventually told, when Fowler’s angled drive beat van Domselaar into the far corner to make 1-0 on 26 minutes. It was instructive to note the architect of the opener was none other than Viv Miedema, perhaps the finest player to appear in red and white during Arsenal Women’s long and illustrious history.

No wonder loyal hordes of Gooners everywhere never forgave previous boss Jonas Eidevall, who took the controversial decision to dispense with the Dutch master.

Stung, Arsenal drove forward in a sweeping move that saw Stina Blackstinius firing over on 34 minutes, when perhaps more composure could have resulted in the Gunners striker at least testing Ayaka Yamashita in the City net.

As temperatures dropped, the tempo rose, with City hitting the woodwork twice in a matter of moments, first through Nicoli, then via a powerful effort by Aoba Fujino which thudded the bar.

As the match opened up, Arsenal won a penalty after Blackstenius was brought down by City's Rebecca Knaak, that saw Caldentey beat Yamashita to equalise at 1-1 on 58 minutes, as Meadow Park erupted in joy.

With Gunners fans still celebrating their goal, more drama was to follow moments later, when van Domselaar saved Fowler's spot kick that was driven straight at the Arsenal keeper - the penalty awarded when Fowler was deemed to have been fouled by Lotte Wubben-Moy in the box, as supporters cheered loudly in delight.

But that was before Fowler’s last gasp winner as the North London club lost their second league cup semi-final in 24 hours.

Reflecting after the match, victorious City coach Taylor said: “We surrendered a bit of possession to Arsenal in periods, but I thought the character that the team showed and especially Mary, and because she had the real bit between her teeth and it didn’t really affect her, the penalty, which is sign of a top player.

“But I think she gave so much to the team tonight. Everyone really worked hard to get us over the line.”