Manchester City continue title push with important derby victory at The Etihad | OneFootball

Manchester City have kept their Barclays Women’s Super League title bid on track by defeating Manchester United 3-1 at The Etihad Stadium this afternoon.

Jess Park netted a brace while Khadija Shaw was also on target as The Cityzens completed a league double over their bitter rivals.

Manchester United started the game really well and they went close to breaking the deadlock on a couple of occasions. Nikita Parris forced home keeper Khiara Keating into a diving save before Geyse sent an effort narrowly wide.

At the other end, Park tested Mary Earps from distance before Keating was again called into action as she tipped Lucía García’s looping effort over the bar.

Yui Hasegawa then fired narrowly wide from distance for Manchester City before Park netted the opener, converting from a Leila Ouahabi cross.

Manchester City almost immediately thought that they had scored a second goal through Shaw but she netted from an offside position after Laura Coombs’ effort had deflected into her path.

Geyse again failed to get the better of Keating as the half moved towards its conclusion. There was to be one final big moment before the interval though with Park converting from close range to put her side 2-0 up.

Manchester City carried on from where they left off at the start of the second half and they soon had their third goal when Shaw was played in and she coolly slotted the ball beyond Manchester United keeper Earps. That goal sent the forward top of the Manchester City goalscoring charts, her 68th strike in sky blue. The Jamaican international was soon presented with a chance to extend her new record just before the hour mark but she couldn’t direct her header on target at the back post.

The hosts seemed to be cruising to victory but Manchester United were able to pull a goal back with 15 minutes to go. Hannah Blundell put in a cross which took a big deflection off Kerstin Casparij and found the back of the net.

To their credit, Manchester United applied pressure in the final stages of the game but Manchester City were solid defensively and they were able to hang onto their two-goal advantage until the full-time whistle.

This afternoon’s result sees Manchester City move to the top of the Barclays Women’s Super League table, at least for the next 24 hours. Manchester United will either end the weekend in fourth or fifth position.