IN a topsy-turvy weekend of football, Chelsea's battling women held on, exhausted, for the club's fourth Women’s FA Cup trophy at Wembley hours after the men had lost their final to Liverpool on the same turf in yet another tense and ultimately unsuccessful penalty shoot-out.

Now the Blues look to cement their Champions League place for next season in the final match of the season at Stamford Bridge this Sunday, when relegated Watford are the visitors.

Thomas Tuchel's task is to rouse his troops for a final hurrah after the bitter disappointment of a clash with Liverpool which ended the same way the team's earlier League Cup final had done with the cruel lottery of spot kicks.

So, focusing on the plus point of the weekend, Chelsea Women's 3-2 victory (after extra time) against Manchester City was a tense affair. For long spells, City were in charge - largely through the skills of Lauren Hemp and Caroline Weir. But the Blues rode their luck, stole a lead through Sam Kerr, recovered from Hemp's leveller to take the lead again via player-of-the-match Erin Cuthbert, then held on for extra time after sub Hayley Raso swung the momentum back to Gareth Taylor's team by gaining parity with seconds of normal time remaining.

“I’m so happy,” chirped manager Emma Hayes after Kerr settled matters with an extra-time deflected shot. “That was so amazing for the women’s game today; it was so gutsy.”

The game set a new record for a women's FA Cup final attendance with the 49,094-strong crowd beating the 2018 tally of 45,423, although as 55,000 tickets were sold it remains a mystery that 6,000 people simply didn’t materialise. They can't all have tested positive, can they?