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Sam Kerr got her familiar Cup final goal for Chelsea but it was Matildas' teammates Hayley Raso and Alanna Kennedy who celebrated Man City's League Cup win.
Chelsea superstar Sam Kerr has scored her familiar goal in an English showpiece final - but it was her Matildas teammates Hayley Raso and Alanna Kennedy who've ended up with the Women's League Cup in their hands.
Australia captain Kerr looked as if she might be en route to securing yet another piece of silverware for the English champions as she put Chelsea ahead in the 34th minute of the final at Plough Lane on Saturday in typically predatory fashion.
But big rivals Manchester City, with fellow Aussie internationals Raso and Kennedy in their ranks, roared back after the break to record a dominant 3-1 win while outplaying the Women's Super League champs in front of a crowd of 8,000 at the west London venue.
Kerr has become the queen of domestic women's cup finals in England, having scored a hat-trick in last season's League Cup showdown with Bristol City and a dazzling double in the FA Cup final win over Arsenal.
And she was at her sharpest again as she capitalised on a mistake to put the Blues ahead in the first half.
A cross from the left touchline from Guro Reiten should have been comfortably dealt with by City goalie Ellie Roebuck but she got into a tangle with her own defender Demi Stokes and the ball spilled from her grasp.
In a flash, Golden Boot winner Kerr was on to it, swivelling and hammering home a left-foot finish on the turn.
It was hard to imagine a City fightback at that point but after the break, inspired by two-goal Scottish international Caroline Weir, the Manchester club were unrecognisable as they made Chelsea look distinctly sluggish as they scored three times in 20 minutes.
They equalised when Weir was given oceans of space to fire home in the 49th minute and went ahead nine minutes later via a sharp piece of close-range poaching from Ellen White.
Player of the match Weir then sealed the deal with an accurate 69th minute finish that earned City their fourth League Cup crown, while Kerr became a peripheral figure after the break.
Winger Raso, given the chance to start after her fine game-changing display off the bench in the FA Cup against Manchester United the previous weekend, was a thorn for the Chelsea defence for much of the afternoon with her dogged persistence.
Kennedy, though, was lucky to get away with a first-half handball in the box via a header from her teammate Lucy Bronze which should have been awarded as a Chelsea penalty.
The tenacious Raso nearly got on the scoresheet herself in the dying minutes after almost latching on to a spilled ball by Chelsea keeper Ann-Katrin Berger, but her triumph made amends for her 2020 Women's FA Cup final loss with Everton against Man City, the team she joined in August last year.
