Manchester City edged closer to rivals Manchester United and the top three in the Women’s Super League table after a crucial win over Leicester City.
Jess Park’s long-fought-for 70th minute strike was the decider in a tense tale of two cities, keeping Manchester City’s European dreams alive.
As it happened
The first half performance from both teams was, in a word, disappointing; not the kind of play you would expect when one of the teams playing was desperately fighting to end the season high enough in the WSL table to qualify for the Champions League.
With their limited possession, Leicester were driven and determined, though failed to make anything from their strides forward. Manchester City had a drastically larger share of possession, controlling the half, but they mostly only managed shots from distance, which usually flew wide or over. The teams subsequently headed in goalless at the break.
The second half continued much like the first until the 70th minute, when excellent work by Laura Coombs and 60th minute substitute Alex Greenwood led to Lauren Hemp being fed the ball. She then sent a cross through the bodies in the box to Park, who executed a right-footed strike across the goal into the left of the net.
Just 2 minutes later, Leicester’s Sam Tierney thought she had equalised, as she put the ball past Khiara Keating, but she was quickly called offside, and the game ended with only Park’s goal to separate the two teams.
After their 1-7 thrashing by West Ham, 12th-place Crystal Palace have been confirmed to be relegated, meaning 11th-place Leicester City can afford not to overly panic about today’s result, knowing they have another season of WSL football to play ahead of them. The pressure falls instead onto Manchester City, who know they have a lot of work to do to enter the top of the WSL table.
The lineups
LEI: Leitzig; Swaby, Howard, Thibaud, Ale; Tierney, Cayman; Cain, Momiki, Chossenotte; O’Brien
MCI: Keating; Casparij, Prior, Knaak, Ouahabi; Aleixandri, Hasegawa; Park, Coombs, Murphy; Kerolin