Man Utd inflict more misery on Man City with rare women’s derby win

Manchester United have waited a long time for this.

Winless in five derby meetings against Manchester City (excluding penalties), United must have been watching City’s weekend hammering by Chelsea and been rubbing their hands, knowing this could be their best chance since 2019 to beat their rivals.

United have been stuttering themselves, so what better way for both sides to improve their fortunes than with a derby win in this Continental Cup clash.

United ran out victorious in a well-contested clash at Leigh Sports Village, with City left wondering where their next slice of luck will come from. If the Chelsea loss was as much of their own doing as it was hampered by their injury crisis, this was a defeat where a much-improved City side did little wrong.

Marc Skinner’s United side won’t care how it came, they’ll just be relieved to finally get one over on City in 90 minutes — as well as keeping their cup hopes alive in this tight group stage.

Both managers switched things up with three of the four goalscorers from October’s entertaining 2-2 draw on the bench. Despite holding a four point lead in the group over United going into this one, Gareth Taylor kept his changes to a minimum, though, with the stronger line up of the two sides.

Perhaps he saw the importance of a confidence-boosting win after Sunday’s disaster against Chelsea. A cup might be City’s best chance of salvaging the season, and there was certainly a desire from his side to right the wrongs of that defeat early on.

Hayley Raso, introduced on the wing, was everywhere early on, forcing a corner and then picking up a loose ball on the edge of the area to tee up an unmarked Vicky Losada.

The Spaniard strode onto the ball and sent a shot flying past United back-up goalkeeper Sophie Baggaley to give City an early lead just two minutes in from 20 yards. They had conceded within a minute for their previous two games, but took the initiative here as they controlled the early stages.

City’s lead silenced the noisy crowd, compacted into two stands at Leigh Sports Village, making for a better atmosphere. A couple of United half chances gave them something to shout about, but it was City fans jeering when Kirsty Hanson shot into the side netting, prompting a few unsighted home supporters to mistakenly cheer a goal.

That would be the last cheering the small band of City fans got to partake in for a while, though, as the exciting Raso got through on goal, but couldn’t keep her shot down. When former United captain Alex Greenwood got a booking for a foul on the halfway line, the home fans voiced their approval, and they had a goal to cheer when the resulting free kick was fumbled by Karima Taieb with Ivana Fuso scoring from the loose ball.

City players were adamant Taieb was impeded, but her lack of command of the area had cost her side a goal for the second game in succession — as two avoidable goals going past her in the FA Cup defeat to Chelsea. Taylor had to publicly back her after her first-minute error against Chelsea in the WSL at the weekend, but the return of another senior goalkeeper can’t come soon enough for City. Taieb’s confidence is shot, and it’s becoming a real problem.

The fact City fans were cheering a simple take from a feeble 30-yard effort said everything, even if it was a supportive gesture. They would offer more support for basic catches, showing just how out-of-form the goalkeeper is.

United could have gone in ahead as Martha Thomas glanced a header wide, and City responded to United’s stronger finish to the half by bringing on England striker Ellen White. It made sense, as Jess Park had been completely isolated in the first period, but the decision to take off their biggest threat, Raso, was a strange one.

The change did allow Park to switch out to the right, however, and she was far more effective and took on Raso’s creative responsibility, while the introduction of Alessia Russo for United had a similar impact for them. White, Russo and Georgia Stanway went close in a much tighter second period, with Stanway enjoying a much more enjoyable trip to United than her previous visit.

Stanway had received a straight red card for an awful challenge on Leah Galton that dominated the post-match headlines. She revealed this week the terrible personal abuse she received on the back of the incident, and did her talking on the pitch this time with an accomplished performance in her makeshift right-back role.

By 66 minutes, both sides had made all their substitutions, with Caroline Weir, Lauren Hemp, Ella Toone and Galton joining the action. Both sides had their first choice attacks on show and this was their time to show who wanted the three points more. However, despite the improved quality off the bench, it seemed this game was destined for penalties.

With both sides on inconsistent runs, it felt like not losing was more important than winning — especially with both sides expected to reach the next round of the cup.

It felt like any winner would come from a mistake or moment of quality, or another Taieb error. As United broke down the left, Taieb actually produced a fine save from Russo, but couldn’t prevent Ona Battle curling in as City were slow to reach the rebound. As City conceded another avoidable goal, United were buoyant and the crowd were subsequently deafened when a jubilant United substitute took hold of the stadium microphone to scream Battle’s name in celebration.

City tried in vain to get a winner, but United held firm, recording only their second ever normal time win over the Blues. City must be wondering where their next slice of luck is coming from.

United won’t care one bit.