Goals either side of half-time from Manchester United’s Katie Zelem and Jess Sigsworth stunned Manchester City to leave the Continental Cup Group Two North wide open.
Having dominated the first half in their opening-day defeat to a patient City in the Women’s Super League, United’s manager Casey Stoney knew what they had to do against the league cup holders. The first meeting of the sides in the WSL era had given United the blueprint.
“We’ve created chances against them when other teams haven’t,” Stoney said before the cup tie. “You’ve got to take them though. And we have been wasteful in front of goal, we were wasteful on Sunday [against Tottenham] but it’s something we’re really concentrating on to make sure we’re really clinical in that final third.”
This time, they were. With United targeting the City full-back Gemma Bonner, drafted into the side in place of Aoife Mannion, who ruptured an ACL against Atlético Madrid on Wednesday, they had an almost instant impact.
Leah Galton received a long ball over the top and she and Bonner went shoulder to shoulder. The defender got a touch but played it back into the path of Galton who cracked a shot that ricocheted off a sea of defending Blues. Hayley Ladd collected the loose ball but was scythed down on the edge of the box. Up stepped the captain, Zelem, who hit a looping free-kick past the diving fingertips of Ellie Roebuck.
With both sides pressing hard, United continued to have success on the left, exploiting the gap between Bonner and the forward Janine Beckie. Stoney noticed, urging Galton to drop in and take advantage, but Nick Cushing noticed it too, pushing Jill Scott over to fill the hole.
With that avenue closed off in the second half United switched their focus to the right. Jackie Groenen and Kirsty Hanson linked seamlessly to give Demi Stokes the slip before the latter whipped a cross to the feet of Sigsworth who poked in from close range.
City frustrations told in the 65 minute when Keira Walsh was shown the red card by referee Amy Fearn for a mistimed tackle on Hanson ruling her out of City’s WSL trip to Arsenal next Sunday.
