Chelsea fought like tigresses to lift another trophy at the weekend, overcoming a serious shortage of available talent to outplay Manchester United and retain the Women’s League Cup.

With just seven subs on the bench to United’s nine (and only five of those potential replacements being outfield players), the Blues began the cup final at Bristol City’s Ashton Gate stadium at a disadvantage.

But everyone raised their game, harried their opponents, forced errors and limited the Reds to just a handful of chances as goals from the irrepressible Lauren James and half-time sub Aggie Beever-Jones achieved a memorable 2-0 victory.

It’s a fourth League Cup win for Chelsea, capping a week in which player-of-the-match James – like big brother Reece in the men’s team – signed a lengthy contract extension.

In driving, swirling West Country rain, Chelsea got an early grip on a hugely entertaining end-to-end clash and scored after 20 minutes in front of a record League Cup final crowd of 21,619.

She pickpocketed United defender Dominique Janssen, stroked the ball goalwards and wellyed it past Phallon Tullis-Joyce for the opener.

The Reds came close to levelling through Liz Terland, who hit the bar. But their best chance arrived in first-half stoppage time as Ellen Wangerheim’s close-range prod just flew wide with keeper Hannah Hampton watching helpless on the ground, with a knowing grin on her face.

Beever-Jones’s clincher came 13 minutes from the end as she evaded pressure from two defenders to squirm home a ball that had been beautifully crossed to her by Jo-Jo Rytting Kaneryd.

In a nice touch at the final whistle, Aggie ran across to United captain and England chum Maya Le Tissier to give her a comforting hug.

Chelsea are used to lifting silverware, but they possess a sporting magnanimity that is a real credit to women’s football.

Disappointed Reds manager Marc Skinner, who turns 43 next week, left Bristol without the present he’d been hoping for, and admitted that “Chelsea are the best at finishing half-chances”.

Sonia Bompastor acknowledged the limitations Chelsea had been forced to overcome in choosing a team, and squad, for the final, with both Sam Kerr and Ellie Carpenter away on Asian Cup duties, and a raft of injuries at the back.

“It’s crucial at this business end of the season to have all your players,” she said. “You could see in a game like today when you have to bring fresh legs and different options into the game that it helps to have a big bench.”

That Chelsea, with all its resources, should have been so depleted is something she told me she will now address with the FA; finding a long-term solution to shortages near a season’s conclusion, such as fielding ‘B’ teams of reserves in lower competitive leagues, as is the case in Germany.

Bompastor has a depth of experience in the area, having managed Lyon’s youngsters for many years, and hopes that England’s football hierarchy will consider radical changes to the structure of reserve teams to enable more young players to step up to the senior squad in times of need.

The major downer on Sunday was that Nathalie Bjorn, back as a sub after December’s surgery on her hamstring, lasted just two minutes before hobbling off in tears after pulling her right calf muscle while clearing a ball.

On crutches, she joined her teammates to gingerly celebrate… but it’s a blow to her long-term recovery and means she’s unlikely to feature again until August.

Bjorn came on in the 62^nd minute for Kadeisha Buchanan, herself starting a match for the first time since November 2024 after a complicated ACL injury.

Defensively, Chelsea are now having to make do and mend. Millie Bright has only just got rid of the orthopaedic moon boot which was protecting her ankle, while Naomi Girma was dropped from the cup final squad after picking up a calf injury of her own.

Special cup final mention to ref Grace Lowe, who managed a fast-paced match brilliantly. Her only curious hiccup came when Blues captain Erin Cuthbert took out an advancing United player, with limbs flailing everywhere… and was awarded a free kick instead of a more likely yellow card!