Reassurance || Leah Williamson

All in Good Time

The end of March came with the beloved Conti Cup final against Manchester United. Over the last few years, I'm not entirely sure why, but the Conti Cup has basically become Arsenal's prized possession. Today, we had a chance to make ourselves three time Conti Cup champions in a row; the pressure of that had started to weigh in on everyone entering the second half of the match down 2-1.

Leah had been subbed off at halftime due to a hamstring strain, so my mind juggled worrying about her and the game at hand which wasn't very easy. Leah had assured me she was okay and that I needed to win the game for her, but I couldn't help the worry that had formed inside of me. What if she wasn't okay?

I pushed down my thoughts as we kicked off the second half, Alessia kicked the ball all the way back to me as our forwards went up the field. I passed it to Katie who took off down the left side before ultimately passing it to Kim who passed it back to her in hopes to get around the defender.

Manchester defended well sending the ball into the middle of the field where Vic and Ella Toone fought for the ball. Ella collected it before Vic could and chipped it to Leah Galton who was a few paces in front of me. I quickly shifted anticipating her run and kicked the ball away towards Lotte's direction shutting down Man United's chance at a breakaway.

The game was back and forth for the next ten minutes until we started pressuring Man United and holding possession in their half. A goal was coming, I could feel it. Wally had held the ball for a moment, slowing the game down ever so slightly and passed it to Foxy on the right side allowing her to run towards the corner as she overlapped Beth. This allowed Alessia and Stina to make runs into the box along with Beth hanging just outside in case of a rebound. Foxy crossed it towards Alessia, but it curved farther towards the edge of the penalty box right where Stina had beat Millie Turner.

Stina's head connected with the ball and it felt like everything turned to slow motion. I watched as the ball rippled into the back of the net, then everything sped up again and Lotte and I celebrated with each other before quickly calling everyone back to their positions. Alessia had grabbed the ball and was jogging back so we could start again. The goal had lit the spark we needed to fight back.

Now tied in the 70th minute, we had a fighting chance to win a third Conti Cup in a row. For Leah, for ourselves, but more importantly for the fans. They're the ones who put us here and supported us through everything.

Jonas gave us fresh legs a minute later, replacing Vic with Frida and Caitlin with Cloe. Having fresh legs provided us with a small upper hand as Katie booted the ball towards Cloe as she ran down the wing easily beating the defenders. Her cross unfortunately didn't connect with any of our players, and it was now anyones game.

Yet again we were all over Man United, pressing on every side and up the middle, but nothing seemed to be working. Seemingly out of no where Man United had a breakaway down the left side leaving Foxy rushing back to defend and Lotte and I being the last line of defense before our goalie. United's forwards rushed the box prepared for the cross, but no cross came as the ball was passed back to Ella Toone who took a shot from distance. None of us could stop it and I held my breath as I watched the ball sail towards the top right corner; all our hopes and dreams about to be shattered. That is, until Manu came up with a brilliant save getting barely a touch on it to send the ball out of play. The stadium erupted as we all breathed a sign of relief. "Yes Manu! Yes!" Lotte shouted from beside me. I gave Manu a pat on the back as we quickly set up to defend the corner.

Stoppage time creeped up on us rather quickly meaning we either had seven minutes to score a winner, or seven minutes to defend until extra time. None of us wanted extra time obviously, we wanted the winner now. Though it didn't look like one would be coming our way.