Lauren Hemp on target as Manchester City battle back to beat United in WSL

A hand cupped around the ear, badge slap and knee slide from the Manchester City and England duo Chloe Kelly and Lauren Hemp are images from a 3-1 derby defeat that will haunt the Old Trafford crowd.

Manchester United were a goal up thanks to Katie Zelem’s penalty, after a handball in the area from their former captain Alex Greenwood, , and could argue that they had another incorrectly ruled out for the ball having gone out of play on the byline. Replays were inconclusive.

But two goals in just over a minute from Jill Roord, assisted by Kelly, and then Hemp delivered the suckerpunches that would inflict United’s first WSL defeat this season and pull City out of their slump and above their rivals. Khadija Shaw added a third for City in the second half, goalkeeper Mary Earps sending a clearance off the forward’s knee and in, before City’s Laia Aleixandri was sent off for a silly second yellow after pulling back Lucía García.

United have waited to play a Manchester derby at Old Trafford, likely until the performance gap between the six-year-old club and their neighbours, the 2016 WSL champions and regular contenders, was a little smaller. They have played four times at Old Trafford, against West Ham twice, Everton and Aston Villa, prior to breaking the club’s attendance record for the visit of City on Sunday with 43,615 fans present.

United had an impressive home record against City, having drawn twice and beaten their rivals once at Leigh Sports Village. That win came last season, a first win against City recorded in May, as United finished above them for the first time. Meanwhile, City suffered back-to-back losses ahead of the meeting, to Arsenal and then Brighton, to put their title challenge on the ropes. No team has lost three and won a WSL title.

If the narrative has been that there is a changing of the guard underway in Manchester, United’s opener fuelled it. After 20 minutes of an open and frenetic game, Melvine Malard cut inside and shot goalward but Greenwood stood with her arms out wide and it deflected off a limb and out of play. Zelem’s resulting penalty was emphatic, with goalkeeper Khiara Keating getting a hand to it but unable to deal with the force behind the shot.

Ten minutes later, United had a golden opportunity to double their advantage. Geyse raced free on the right but held on just a little too long before squaring to Nikita Parris in the middle allowing Alana Kennedy to clear. Geyse collected the ball at the byline before firing in but ball was ruled to have gone out of play. There is no VAR in the WSL but replay after replay was inconclusive.

Narratives are not always linear and, while it may be getting tighter between the Manchester teams, this game showed that a momentum shift is a process rather than instant. Two goals in 79 seconds decidedly swung things City’s way and enabled the visitors to reassert their authority.

First, Kelly beat Lisa Naalsund on the left before sending a low cross towards Roord in the middle and the Dutch forward fired through the legs of Millie Turner and in. Just 16 seconds after the restart they had the lead, Shaw initially denied after Zelem was dispossessed on the edge of the area but sending the rebound into the feet of Hemp who lashed into the top corner.

The killer blow would come from Shaw, who chased down Maya Le Tissier’s short pass and blocked Earps’s attempted clearance back past the keeper and into the empty net.

City would put themselves in trouble though, Aleixandri pulling back substitute García, collecting a second yellow and City’s fourth red card in seven league games. United camped in the City half for the 11 minutes of added time, desperately seeking the late goals that would give them something from the game and, as the team that has scored the most goals after the 76th minute in this season and across last season, they had a chance. But this was a gutsy City performance, a resilient one, one that would see club captain Steph Houghton arrive off the bench to marshal them to safety.