CAF Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year, Chiamaka Nnadozie, played a decisive role as Brighton & Hove Albion recorded a historic 3-2 comeback win over Liverpool to reach the Women’s FA Cup final for the first time in the club’s history, www.aclsports.com reports.
Nnadozie made two crucial saves during the semi-final clash at BrewDog Stadium on Sunday to keep Brighton in the contest as they produced a dramatic late turnaround.
Liverpool made the brighter start and went ahead in the 11th minute through Denise O’Sullivan, before Beata Olsson doubled the hosts’ advantage 11 minutes later.
Brighton responded before half-time when Manuela Vanegas pulled one back in the 23rd minute, before Madison Haley restored parity in the 54th minute.
Nnadozie kept Brighton in the contest when she parried a strike from Liverpool substitute Aurelie Csillag.
With extra time looming, substitute Nadine Noordam struck in the fifth minute of stoppage time to complete the comeback and send Brighton to Wembley Stadium.
The achievement comes days after Nnadozie’s brilliant stop against Liverpool in the Women’s Super League was nominated for the Barclays Save of the Season award, underlining her impressive debut campaign in England.
Brighton will now face Manchester City in the final on 31 May after City came from two goals down to beat Chelsea Women 3-2 after extra time in the other semi-final.
City trailed to first-half goals from Erin Cuthbert and Sam Kerr before Mary Fowler sparked the comeback in the 86th minute. Khadija Shaw then scored in stoppage time before adding the winner in extra time to seal City’s place in the final.
