Rachel Williams insists Manchester United will “definitely be back next year”
at Wembley, after losing the club's first-ever Women's FA Cup final to Chelsea.
The victors are one of Williams' former outfits and she was left to lament the Reds' missed opportunities to go in front against a team that has great experience in seeing out wins to lift silverware.
This was Chelsea's ninth triumph in 10 clashes between the clubs and their second in a row by the narrowest 1-0 margin, both coming courtesy of a Sam Kerr strike.
“Yeah, put the ball in the back of the net before they do!
“It hurts today, we were so close. It was that one per cent [difference] again. It's come from a set piece, they’ve taken a throw-in, we've missed it, they've got in.
“We'll learn from it, we’ll bounce back. We’ve got to switch our mindset now back to the league and just hope that we've done enough in it.
“You never know what's going to happen [in the FA Cup], but we'll be back next year.”
However, the 35-year-old was philosophical in the end, commenting:
“You win some, you lose some. And it wasn't our day to get that penalty today.
“But the girls have been absolutely brilliant today. We couldn't ask for any more from anyone. The girls, the staff, absolutely everyone, and the fans here today.
“We’re absolutely gutted we couldn't bring the trophy home. But like I said, we'll definitely be back next year.”
“The last time I was in an FA Cup final, that was at Wembley, with only 30,000,”reflected Williams. “So every year the game's growing. Credit to absolutely everyone involved.
“Just for the day in itself, without having the game to play. We look around and it’s amazing to see. And hopefully it's going to be like this for a long time now.”