Izzy uses her head to take the trophy
AS well as making a childhood dream reality Izzy Christiansen carved out her place in cup history with the only goal of the final.
The Rainow midfielder popped up to head in Manchester City’s winner as they broke Arsenal’s stranglehold on the women’s game, as well as a three-year dominance of the Continental Cup.
The final, at Wycombe Wanderers’ Adams Park ground, saw City cap their first season with the trophy, with Izzy turning in a cross from Krystle Johnston after an hour of deadlock.
“Obviously it’s a brilliant achievement and on a personal note I was delighted to get the winning goal in a cup final,” said the 23-yearold.
“I remember sprinting into the box, just trying to get myself in there, and it went out wide so I had to adjust a little bit but I got there and managed to get to Krystle’s cross.
“My first reaction was to look for the flag, to see if I was offside, but when it wasn’t up it was the best feeling.
“I’d not thought about scoring during the game, not until then anyway, but I’m delighted.”
Izzy joined Manchester United’s Under-10s as a promising youngster and made the switch to Everton where she broke into the first team and made her Champions League bow.
A move to Birmingham brought more European experience and an FA Cup winner’s medal in 2012.
She joined the City team for their first season, which began in February.
And although Izzy and her City team-mates were disappointed with a mid-table finish in the Women’s Super League, they at least had a say in where the title went.
City’s win over Chelsea saw Liverpool win the league by the merest of margins.
“We beat Chelsea in the last game,” added the cup winner – and United supporter.
“If they’d won that match they’d have been champions but we won 2-1 and that meant Liverpool won it on goal difference, by one goal.
“I support United, I scored the winner for City in the final and my team helped Liverpool beat Chelsea to the league – it’s all a bit random, isn’t it?
“I suppose I’ve been through a few mixed emotions when you look at it like that!
“We’re disappointed with our final league position, we think we should have been up there, we beat Liverpool and in the games against Arsenal we took points off each other so we knew that final was going to be difficult.
“It could have gone the other way, they had a lot of pressure but we made the most of the chances we had.
“We’ll try to make sure we’re challenging next season, we’ll be expecting better of ourselves.
“And we’ll be out to defend our cup as well, so why not aim for a double?”
That’s all to come in 2015 but City’s women will continue training until November then take a month off over Christmas before returning for pre-season in the New Year.
And as well as club success, Izzy is still in the mix for international honours, having made her full England debut.
She was a key part of the Under-19 squad that won the European Championship in Belarus in 2009 and was called up to a training camp in La Manga at the start of the year.
Caps for the Under-15, Under-17, Under-19, Under-20 and Under-23 sides are in the bag, and although she’s now been back in the Under-23s Izzy has captained the side, an experience which is sure to help further her ambitions for success with the Three Lionesses.
It’s been a natural progression for a player who made the 2008 Under-17 and 2010 Under-20 World Cup squads and helped Great Britain win gold in the last year’s Summer Universiade in Russia.
“I got called up to the senior team in January,” she continued. “I played three games, we won against Sweden and Norway but lost to Japan.
“I’ve not been back in the team but I’ve been back playing in the Under-23s and I’ve been captian, which is a great honour.
“And I’ve definitely not given up on playing for the senior team more.
“I’ve been playing wide for most of this season, and I prefer being in the middle, right in the thick of it.
“I hope I can get more call-ups, we’ll have to see what happens from here.”
The car, which is built and maintained by Simon at his Autolink Services base in Cheadle Hulme, is a replica of the cars run by the Ford works teams in the late 1970s and early 80s.
Simon (right of picture) and Shaun (left) are supported by their loyal service crew – all from Macclesfield – Tom Oliver, Andrew Wilson, Benjamin Wright and Vicky and Megan Morgan, who all give up their time to help out in all sorts of weather.
Simon and Shaun will be back in action next month for the Neil Howard Memorial Stages at Oulton Park on November 8, but this time they’ll be competing against one another.
Both will be behind the wheels of Escorts, Simon a MkI and Shaun a MkII, which should make for a fascinating personal contest.
They’re hoping to compete in the full BTRDA Championship next year, which consists of six rounds, and they are looking for sponsorship from local businesses.
Anyone who can help the pair is asked to call Simon on 07968 111845.