There were moments during this match where the result was by no means certain, yet to their credit Manchester City Women managed to come away with a victory in the first Women’s Super League Manchester derby.
In all the glamour of the lead up to this first Manchester City Women game of the season, it is easy to lose sight of the ridiculous fixture planning of the FA. As custodians of the Women’s game, the FA decided to kick off the season just a couple of days after the end of the International football break.
The impact of this scheduling upon the match – lack of player preparation and fitness, over shadowed the potential of this match. If the point is to raise the profile then the scheduling should not be under mining the quality.
Putting that to one side, City played with some solidity and control for long periods but tired legs and general rustiness at times threatened to cause an upset and allow United the chance to claw their way back into the game.
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City started slowly and in the opening stages of the match they had to weather the storm, as United threatened to take the lead. There were moments of careless passing and in particular some of the established players such as Jill Scott and Steph Houghton gave the ball away too frequently.
The fact United failed to capitalise from their attacking play was down to a combination of good goalkeeping and a lack of luck on their part.
The defensive line up of City looked out of sorts and took some time to warm up to the game. Aoife Mannion started in a less familiar right back role allowing Gemma Bonner and Houghton to form a central defensive partnership. As the game went on, the defensive positioning seemed to settle and allow City to begin to exert control.
City started the second half much brighter and it was not long before they had the lead. The surprise was it took a wonder goal by Caroline Weir to reap any dividend from their superiority. Weir picked up the ball from thirty five yards out and unleashed an unstoppable strike – worthy of any goal of the season contender.
Despite a period of outright dominance in the game, City failed to add another goal and endured some nervy moments as a consequence. Ellie Roebuck in goal made some impressive saves and was grateful when one shot in particular rebounded from the post into her arms.
The game ran out of legs and City clung on to seal the victory. Any win over our neighbours is joyful but sealing the first ever WSL derby victory in the first game of the season felt important. Yet, there is a long season ahead and City will need to do more than labour past opponents if they want to be in the hunt for titles in May.
The fact this match took place at the Etihad Stadium in front of over 31000 fans felt critical in terms of building some momentum behind the Women’s side at the start of a new season. Let us hope that performances on the pitch allow that momentum to build and continue to bring in large crowds at the City Football Academy.
But right now the bragging rights are with City and as usual, this City is blue.