Vidosic: I felt that late winner was coming

Albion are at Wembley and their head coach always believed they could make it despite trailing 2-0 in the semi-final against Liverpool.

2026-05-11T06:00+01:00

The Albion players celebrate in front of the travelling fans.

Dario Vidosic admitted he ‘felt’ Albion would get a winning goal in their FA Cup semi-final, even though they left it until stoppage time to clinch their place at Wembley.

They were hit by a fast, intense start by Liverpool that earned the hosts a 2-0 lead before Manuela Vanegas's goal started the fightback which ended with Nadine Noordam coming off the bench to score a stoppage-time winner as Albion triumphed 3-2.

"On the bench I kept saying, 'I feel it's coming.' I didn't put much thought into extra time," admitted Vidosic. (Assistant Manager) Chris (Roberts) even asked me about it, and I said, 'Not just yet. Wait.' On the free kick, as I went to sit down, I said, 'It's coming here.' It just had that feeling. The momentum was with us. We kept going. We didn't stop and I think we got what we deserved in the end."

The head coach was full of praise for the way his team responded after going 2-0 down. Asked about those tough first 20 minutes, Vidosic admitted his team made a sluggish start.

“It must be hard for some of the girls as it's their first time in a semi-final and you're away from home. You walk out to You'll Never Walk Alone, and it hits you. You realise this is real. Naturally, every game you feel the nerves and tension, but every decision could go one way or another in shaping the future in terms of progressing or being knocked out.

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Albion found themselves 2-0 down midway through the first half of the FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool on Sunday lunchtime, but were not to be denied, as Manuela Vanegas then Madison Haley drew Albion level. Then in the dying moments of the game, Nadine Noordam came off the bench to send Albion to Wembley. Club photographers Paul Hazlewood and James Boardman were at the Brewdog Stadium in St Helens to capture all the action.

“With and without the ball, we looked a little off and slow. We knew they counter-press quickly, but we were just slow. The ball was getting caught between our feet.

“We had to weather the storm. We responded quickly and Manu’s goal gave us energy and confidence. Before the game, we spoke about moments and said, irrespective of a good or bad moment, we always have to focus on the next one.

“It's easy to get caught up, go 2-0 down and think it's over. But we spoke about not letting it affect us and moving on. We've been in these situations. We were 1-0 down against Manchester City. We weren't good to begin with, but we responded, scored three goals, and won the game. We know this team has it in us and in the second half in particular, they were a joy to watch. To do that to a very good team gives us a lot of confidence."

The head coach was asked what he told Noordam who only came on in the 90th minute for Fran Kirby when Albion were defending a corner. They did so successfully and a few moments later Noordam reacted first when Liverpool failed to clear Maisie Symonds and lashed the ball into the roof of the net for her first Albion goal.

“I just said to use your qualities and look for the spaces. We had her more in the No9 role and she was able to come off, help us overload, get control, and get into the final third. We put a lot of work into set pieces. We know the roles and potentially where balls can be. For it to be fired into her, the touch she took, and the finish, that's hard to practice. That's just the player's quality. She was in a great position, but to do what she did, she's a very good player."