Taylor: Record-breaker Hemp relishing senior role | OneFootball

Gareth Taylor believes Lauren Hemp has taken on a more senior role in the dressing room this season after she broke new ground in our WSL win over West Ham.

The England international opened the scoring at the Joie Stadium in our 2-0 win over the Hammers, which saw City move top of the table and extend our unbeaten start to the campaign.

In doing so, she became the youngest player to reach 50 WSL goals at just 24 years and 60 days old.

And despite her tender years, Taylor feels Hemp has developed into an important leader in the dressing room.

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Speaking of her WSL 50-goal record the boss said: “It’s a big achievement, particularly with her age, she’s done so much. You look at the likes of her, Jess [Park], Mary Fowler, these players have done a lot in their very young careers.

“She’s such a dream to work with, I've enjoyed my time with her so much and it was crucial for her to re-sign with us.

“That was a real positive for us because I’m sure a lot of clubs would want a Lauren Hemp, and so they should.

“She’s really coachable, really honest and gives everything for the team. She’s such a team player and to have that at your club is amazing.

“We’re trying to give her more responsibility now and she’s really relishing that. A young player who can also help the younger players and be a voice in the dressing room is magic for us to have.”

The boss also insisted there was no cause for concern around Jess Park’s omission from the matchday squad against West Ham.

Park was left out against the Hammers due to a minor foot complaint but, with a busy fixture schedule looming, Taylor didn’t want to risk the midfielder aggravating the injury.

He’s confident the midfielder will be able to feature against Barcelona this Wednesday.

“Yeah, she’ll be fine. She didn't want to miss today but we took the decision after speaking with the medical department just to relieve some pressure she had in an area under her foot,” he said.

“She trained in isolation today. We never felt like we’d need her, and I mean that with all the respect to West Ham, it was the options we have.

“We knew Viv would come on for Jill, that was pre-planned. The other substitutions were more impulsive.

“I’m really pleased with the result and the clean sheet, we could've opened it up more but I felt we needed that spark in the second half and Bunny [Shaw] and Aoba [Fujino] gave us that.”