The club have been boosted by the returns to fitness of key players including England trio Lucy Bronze, Ellie Roebuck and Keira Walsh, although captain Steph Houghton, winger Chloe Kelly and defender Esme Morgan remain out. Saturday’s win clinched the club’s eighth major trophy in eight seasons – seven of which have been domestic cup competitions – but Taylor stressed his main goal is to add to the club’s sole league title from 2016.

“What this gives us goes beyond winning this trophy, it gives us confidence going into the remainder of the season. The belief levels will be huge after this,” He added. “I’ve always said that one WSL title [for the club] is not enough. That’s the true test of a team. Nothing changes in that respect, that’s the title we really want. Eight [trophies] in eight seasons now? We want to push that number up massively.”

Caroline Weir at brilliant best for League Cup winners Man City to bring an end to Chelsea’s rule

Manchester City won their fourth Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup and their eighth major trophy in eight years as Caroline Weir’s brilliant double and yet another Ellen White goal in a spirited second-half fightback saw them come from a goal down to end Chelsea’s stranglehold on the major silverware in an engaging final.

Head coach Gareth Taylor was so mesmerised by his side’s resurgence in the second 45 minutes that all he wanted to do was watch it back again on the bus on the way home. For his jubilant players, the celebrations will have been rather more unbridled, after they denied Chelsea a third straight League Cup crown in an at times end-to-end final that greatly entertained a new competition-record crowd of 8,004.

“I was blown away with the girls in the second half, the way they attacked the game, from a technical point, tactically, physically we stepped up so many levels’ and arguably could have scored more goals against a really dangerous team. I’m going to watch the second half again on the bus home because I was so blown away with it!” said Taylor, who felt their comeback mirrored the way they have transformed their season since the midway point.

Indeed the game was almost the perfect metaphor for his team’s campaign of contrast, having endured a disastrous injury list early in the autumn that blew that league title chances, before reviving superbly with a resurgent run in the New Year that has propelled them back into contention for Champions League qualification, seen them reach the FA Cup quarter-finals and now claim the first major piece of silverware on offer this term.

Between them, Chelsea and Manchester City have now won 18 of the past 22 major domestic honours in England since 2014, yet remarkably this was their first meeting in a cup final, and their long-awaited showdown did not disappoint.

Emma Hayes’ team won a treble of major trophies last season and had therefore claimed every piece of major domestic silverware available since Manchester City had won the FA Cup in November 2020, but Hayes’ team’s chances of maintaining their streak were dealt a blow before kick-off, with Fran Kirby missing out through illness and Canada’s Jessie Fleming contracting Covid-19.

And in front of this cup’s largest-ever crowd, at the home of AFC Wimbledon, there was warm applause around the ground when both sides came together to show their support for the people of Ukraine before kick-off, laying down blue and yellow wreaths and reminding us all that football is only a game. The topic of Russia invasion of Ukraine and this week’s announcement that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is to sell Chelsea totally dominated Hayes’ pre-match press conference but the Londoner, in her 10th season in charge, sought to reassure supporters that the club’s women’s team would undoubtedly remain a “strong force” in the game whoever takes over the club.

And it looked like her team would continue their dominance when Australia’s Sam Kerr took full advantage of a mistake at the back from Manchester City to open the scoring. England keeper Ellie Roebuck and her fellow Lioness Demi Stokes both attempted to reach Guro Reiten’s cross in the air but got in each other’s way, with Roebuck fumbling the ball downwards for Kerr to fire in low on the turn. It was the sort of moment England will be desperate to not see repeated in this summer’s European Championships, where Roebuck and Stokes are both in strong contention to start the majority of England’s games.