Man City pride in FA Cup defeat as Gareth Taylor praises brave Blues

Gareth Taylor says he told his Manchester City players to be proud in defeat as they were beaten in extra time to lose the Women's FA Cup final on Sunday.

City twice came from behind against Chelsea at Wembley to force extra time in a tug-of-war final, but had no answer to Sam Kerr's extra-time winner and the players sank to the floor at full time.

The defeat brings City's eventful season to an end, which saw them recover from an awful, injury-impacted start to successfully qualify for the Champions League, win the Continental Cup, and reach this FA Cup final. Taylor said before the game that defeat on Sunday wouldn't make the season a failure, and he only had positive words for his beaten side.

ALSO READ: Man City learn valuable lesson in gutting Women's FA Cup final defeat

Taylor said: "I felt we were the dominant team in large periods, we started well, had good chances. We showed good character to bounce back from a disappointing goal to give away.

"In the second half we were controlling the game, the last 20 minutes we were excellent. We were the only team in extra time to go and do it. We make a slight error on halfway that costs us. It's difficult then as Chelsea can see the game out.

"I'm supremely proud of the team, we were excellent, we showed character. My feeling isn't disappointed. We wanted to lift the trophy, we wanted to do it again. my feeling is pride in how the team played. There are areas to improve on, sure, there are mistakes that were made.

"The only disappointment is that if you give Chelsea three goals you have to do a lot. We didn't give them too many chances, nullified the threat, created chances ourselves. This is football, it can happen. You can dominate but come out of it with nothing to