Spirited performance goes unrewarded against Citizens

It was a spirited performance from Robert Vilahamn’s side, but a goal in each half saw Manchester City secure a 2-0 victory at Brisbane Road on Sunday afternoon in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

An unfortunate own-goal from Amy Turner handed City the lead in the early stages but, from that point onwards, we responded positively and were inches away from bringing the scores level as Martha Thomas had a goal ruled out for offside.

City delivered a sucker punch goal after our bright response, Khadija Shaw firing home at the near-post just six minutes into the second half to claim her 13^th goal of the WSL campaign.

Jess Naz and Bethany England both had opportunities in the closing minutes, but we were ultimately unable to find a way back into the game as we fell to our first defeat since the turn of the year.

The boss made six changes to the starting XI that faced Southampton in the week, with Amanda Nildén and Charlotte Grant making their first starts in the WSL, while Luana Bühler and Shuang Wang both returned to the matchday squad after recovering from injury – the latter’s first appearance in the squad after joining the Club last month.

Barbora Votíková was called into action early on, getting a strong hand to her right to deny Alex Greenwood’s free-kick, however, the visitors opened the scoring with nine minutes on the clock as Lauren Hemp’s cross unfortunately came off Turner to divert it past Votíková and into the back of the net.

That didn’t damper our spirit and we responded positively after falling behind, Thomas blasting an effort over the bar after great work from Grace Clinton while Molly Bartrip and Turner both put their bodies on the line to deny Laura Coombs on two occasions.

Thomas thought she had grabbed the equaliser ahead of the half hour mark, racing onto a lovely, weighted pass from Celin Bizet and slotted the ball past Khiara Keating, but she was adjudged to be offside by the assistant referee.

The two sides had opportunities in the closing stages of the first half, Bizet sending her shot from the edge of the box over the bar while City’s in-form forward, Shaw, saw her header fall straight into the hands of Votíková.

However, City doubled their lead just five minutes into the second half as they quickly regained possession in midfield and advanced forward through Hemp, she slid the ball across to Shaw inside the box who fired home at the near-post.

Naz and Wang were both introduced after the hour mark, with the latter making her debut in Lilywhite. Chances were far and far after City’s second goal of the afternoon, with Coombs seeing another effort blocked by Bartrip the only notable chance.

As the game entered the final 10 minutes, we pushed to cut the deficit as Wang fed the ball through to Naz, who sent her effort wide of the post, before Bethany England’s shot was routine for Keating as the Chinese international turned provider once again, but City saw off any late drame to condemn us to defeat at Brisbane Road.

Match data

Goals: City – Turner (OG) 9, Shaw 51.

Yellow cards: Spurs – Summanen 45+1, Athinen 70.

Referee: Melissa Burgin

Venue: Brisbane Road

Weather: Sunny with spells of cloud, around 11 degrees

Attendance: 2889