Manchester City Women responded to Chelsea’s 3-1 win over Arsenal in style by thumping Brighton 4-0 to keep their hopes of winning the WSL firmly alive. Lauren Hemp and Mary Fowler scored in the first half, while Bunny Shaw and Laura Coombs added goals in the second half to give the blues a commanding lead before former blue Lee Geum-min scored a consolation goal in the last minutes of the match.
City went into the match on the back of two successive cup defeats to Chelsea and Spurs, and with Chelsea winning on Friday to open up a three-point lead, City needed to produce an exemplary performance and ensure they returned north with three points.
And that’s exactly what they did as the blues dominated the match from the start, but had to be patient and find a way through the stubborn Brighton defence. And once they did, there was no stopping them.
Jess Park, who has been so influential since gaining a place in the starting line-up, released Hemp on the left who fired past Sophie Baggaley to put City in front. The keeper should really have done better but was unable to prevent the shot from squeezing past her.
City continued to go forward but were well aware of the threat Brighton posed. The Seagulls hit City on the break to score the only goal when the two teams met in November, and manager Gareth Taylor kept reminding his team of that from the sidelines.
On a few occasions, Brighton were able to get forward and pose some problems, but it was nothing that the City defence couldn’t handle as they held onto their lead. And that doubled five minutes from the break as Fowler converted Hemp’s cross to put City in complete control. The winger did excellent work on the left and her cross into the middle left Baggaley in two minds and Fowler took advantage to sidefoot home.
After the break it was more of the same from the blues. Knowing that goal difference could be crucial in the title race, they poured forward in search of more goals. Hemp’s vicious shot smacked against the post, before Shaw headed home her 16th WSL goal of the season as she converted a superb cross by the excellent Yui Hasegawa. And when Coombs swept home the fourth from Fowler’s cross into the box, City were once again level on points and only one goal behind the leaders.
Two more goals from the blues would have seen City go above Chelsea, however, only one more was scored and, typically, it went to Brighton. Lee clipped in Sarri’s cross in the 90th minute to ruin City’s clean sheet and send the number of goals conceded into double figures.
It was a bitter blow for City, right at the end of the match but, with six games remaining, the blues have everything to play for.
Final Score: Brighton Women 1-4 Manchester City Women