Manchester City returned to the top of the Women’s Super League after Jess Park inspired them to a comfortable victory over Manchester United.
Park’s double and a record-breaking goal from Khadija Shaw saw Gareth Taylor’s side open up a three-point lead over Chelsea ahead of the champions’ trip to West Ham on Sunday.
“Full credit to the players and the group behind the group to get us to where we are,” Taylor said. “The most important thing is that we’ve always been chasing and now we look like we’re at the top. Things will invariably change [on Sunday]. We need to not worry too much about anything else and control what we can.”
In the opening game of Women’s Football Weekend – an annual celebration of the women’s game across England – City thrilled the 40,086 fans inside the Etihad. It was their 11th consecutive league win as they kept the pressure on Chelsea in the race for the title.
City’s success is epitomised by the unparalleled Shaw who wrote her name into the history books. The Jamaica forward’s second-half strike was her 18th of the season and 68th in 82 appearances for City, surpassing Georgia Stanway and making her the all-time leading goalscorer for the club.
“Bunny is a unique player,” Taylor said. “Not only does she give us goals but she’s a focal point. Her game has improved a lot. She’s a great personality to work with – she’s honest, she helps the team and her goals are so important.”
Taylor had named an unchanged lineup from the win over Brighton but the ever-present Laia Aleixandri pulled up in the warm-up meaning Alanna Kennedy came in. Marc Skinner made one change from his side that had beaten Bristol City as Geyse replaced Melvine Malard in attack.
It was the hosts who looked uncomfortable at the start as they adjusted to their reshuffled backline. United started with an energetic press, led from the front by Nikita Parris, and it forced some dangerous turnovers.
The visitors produced the first real opportunity of the game when the pace of Geyse got the better of Leila Ouahabi down the right. The Brazilian laid it back for an unmarked Parris who saw her shot tipped behind by Khiara Keating. Geyse produced another opportunity that saw her flash an effort into the side-netting.
City grew in confidence as the half wore on. Park was at the centre of everything positive and the warning signs were there when she took aim from distance with a sweetly struck effort which Mary Earps scrambled across to save.
The hosts found the breakthrough in controversial circumstances. It was a lovely team move finished off by Park inside the box, but replays showed that Shaw was offside in the buildup. Shaw looked to have doubled the lead a minute later, only for an offside flag to correctly go up this time.
The hosts did make it 2-0 just before the break. If Park’s first ever WSL goal for City was questionable, there was no doubt about her second as she ghosted in at the far post to turn home Kennedy’s flick-on from close range.
City continued to dominate in the second half and Shaw had her moment two minutes after the restart, driving through the United defence to pick her spot past Earps.
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The one blemish on City’s afternoon was Kerstin Casparij’s 73rd-minute own goal from a Hannah Blundell cross. Taylor has emphasised the importance of goal difference given how tight things are at the top and it will have been a slight frustration that they missed the chance to edge ahead of Chelsea on that front.
It did little to dampen the mood at the Etihad, however, or of Taylor. “The WSL title always seems to go to the final game and I don’t see it being anything different this season,” he said. “For us, it’s another three points. It feels like more but that’s all it is. The margins remain tight.”
