Man City Women 2 – 4 Man Utd Women

Ella Toone scored a hat-trick on her return to WSL action as Manchester United Women punished clumsy mistakes from Manchester City Women to win 4-2 in a pulsating Manchester derby.

Toone missed games in November and December with a calf injury, and continued her goalscoring return to form with a remarkable hat-trick at the Etihad Stadium.

“I’ve been through a lot, and when I got injured it was a blessing in disguise,” Toone told Sky Sports after the game.

“Looking back now, I needed it, not just physically but mentally. I used my time wisely to get back fitter and stronger, but most importantly, take care of myself.

“I was letting the girls know – ‘girl, I’ve never scored in a Manchester derby, I’ve never scored against City’, and for a girl who supports Manchester United, I know what these derbies mean. I want to go into every game making something happen on the court and setting a shift for the girls.

“But today I wanted a goal and I managed to score three, so a special day for me and I couldn’t have done it without the players and the staff.”

Man Utd were sharper from the start and Toone made it count with her goal in the 14th minute. Elisabeth Terland missed her shot but the England midfielder was waiting to head home. Leah Galton (21) then doubled the lead soon after, heading home from close range after Man City failed to clear a corner.

Gareth Taylor’s side continued to fight back, with a poor pass from the back – which came just seconds after another had seen Terland almost score – allowing Toone to score his second (36). She collected a free pass before simply tipping home England team-mate Khiara Keating.

But it looked like the recovery was late in the first half as Man City struck twice to make it 3-2. Vivianne Miedema (40) – herself returning to the league from injury – nodded home a Mary Fowler cross before Rebecca Knaak (45+3) scored her first WSL goal since joining the club a few weeks before.

However, 10 seconds after the restart, another moment to forget for Keating allowed Toone to complete her hat-trick. The keeper stayed on the ball too long from the start, with a deflection that landed in the path of Toone. She won the race with Keating and entered an open net.

For all their faults at one end, Man City piled on the shots and chances in a dominant second half. However, some inspired moments from Phallon Tullis-Joyce prevented them from making a real comeback.

This is Man Utd’s first away win in the Manchester derby and sends them above Man City into third place in the WSL table. Taylor’s side – who have now lost back-to-back games in the WSL – drop to fourth place, two points off the Champions League places.

Analysis: Man City lack a flawed Plan B

Sky Sports’ Laura Hunter:

Is this the moment Manchester United enter the title race? A statement win in a derby that, for all but the finish, will have made City’s hopes of a second WSL crown all the sweeter.

Gareth Taylor’s side started the day in second place and finished in fourth place. The many mistakes they made were completely out of character, but equally reflective of Man United’s brazen approach.

Fortune favors the brave.

They applied high pressure from the first minute, forcing errors and capitalizing on every City setback.

Marc Skinner’s side suffocated their hosts, and yet it was City who enjoyed 74 per cent of the ball. That United scored four goals while having such a stingy share of possession makes the result all the more remarkable.

All too often City have relied on their ability to beat opponents into submission and in the absence of any Plan B, they were beaten by their best game plan.

Praise for Toone: She is an inspiration

Man Utd goalscorer Ella Toone THE Sky Sports:

“We’re also speechless. It’s a derby so it means a lot. We made a massive change and a great performance. I think we deserved it.

“We’re doing well. Sometimes people write us off, but we know what kind of team we have. We’ve got personality, we’ve got attitude, we’ve got work rate and we give everything every time we step on the pitch and we enjoy playing together.”

Man Utd concierge Phallon Tullis-Joyce THE Sky Sports:

“We’ve got a really tough squad and women who are ready to beat it and that’s what we certainly saw today, especially Toonie.

“She’s just been an absolute inspiration. Looking at it from the sidelines, she’s been the first one on the field and the last one off. She’s earned every second of this moment for how hard she’s worked to come back.”

Man Utd manager Marc Skinner THE Sky Sports:

“Sometimes you can get a message that’s from above. The reality was that Ella has played a lot of football in the last two or three years and she’s grown up and had so many experiences. For me, we need a Toonie who loves football. We need such a player for England and Manchester United.

“At the end of the game, I asked her if she liked it and she said yes. I’ll take that away as well as the three points because it’s about the people at Manchester United.”

Taylor: We got it wrong

Man City HEAD Gareth Taylor THE Sky Sports:

“Our build-up is usually a very strong part of our game. It’s the way I like to play because it allows us to get as a team, but we got it wrong tonight on a couple of occasions.

“The goals we scored killed the momentum. Between the squares we were quite good, but we gave away too many chances.

“They were easy goals. Sometimes when you play like that, when the decision-making is wrong, it’s disappointing to give away what we did that way. The fourth was difficult to take because it’s a situation we don’t need to be in. in.”

Speaking of Khiara Keating’s streak of mistakeshe added: “It’s difficult for her, she’s a young goalkeeper, but she’s been very good for us. It’s not the first time, it happened last season and all goalkeepers go through it. What we want to see it’s a strength of character to come back to.”

Skinner: We made Man City make mistakes

Man Utd manager Marc Skinner THE Sky Sports:

“My satisfaction comes from the team enjoying their football and we gave a very good account of ourselves. I know we’re going to talk about the mistakes Man City made, but we made them make mistakes.

“We’ve had a bit of criticism in the bigger games this season where we’ve been a bit passive, but tonight we were just ‘right, we’re going after Man City’. We forced mistakes and got our rewards tonight.

“I’ve been here before. Two seasons ago, we won at the Emirates. We got matches with teams and our team is young and young again. They have to learn these big stage environments. Tonight is a great curve the lesson for them.

“I think the thing that overcomes inexperience is personality and fearlessness. I felt like we had that in abundance tonight.

“It is a great victory for our whole club. We’ll take it forward to play them again on Wednesday (in the League Cup), which will be interesting.

“We will rest, we will recover and we will be ready to make another performance against them.”

The match in statistics

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