WSL roundup: Manchester City put four past Brighton to keep pace with Chelsea

Manchester City bounced back from successive Cup defeats to earn a 4-1 win over Brighton at the Broadfield Stadium on Sunday and draw level with Chelsea at the top of the Women’s Super League. Gareth Taylor’s side completely dominated the match with Lauren Hemp, Yui Hasegawa and Laura Coombs all influential.

Chelsea had opened up a three-point gap over City on Friday by beating Arsenal 3-1 but that is now closed with only goal difference separating the two sides. After City’s win, Taylor was keen to keep to his one-game-at-a-time mantra. “Just the next game,” he told BBC Sport. “We try and keep it as simple as possible, that’s the way to be. We just try and control what we can control.

“The frustrating thing today is if we don’t concede and we get one at the end then we go top of the league outright,” the Manchester City manager added after his team moved past defeats in the FA Cup against Tottenham, and Continental Cup to Chelsea.

“We were top of the league early on this season, then were six points behind. All of a sudden, within two games, to claw that back to where we are now has been a phenomenal effort from the team.”

Hemp broke the deadlock in the 27th minute following a sensational pass from Jess Park, which completely unlocked the Brighton defence. Mary Fowler then doubled City’s advantage on the cusp of half-time after being handed plenty of space in the box. Goals from Khadija “Bunny” Shaw and Laura Coombs followed the restart as Manchester City continued to run rings around the hosts, although a late consolation goal from Lee Geum-min made the scoreline a little more respectable.

Brighton’s interim manager, Mikey Harris, was keen to pick out the positives at full-time, one of which was the debut of 16-year-old Grace McEwen. “Really pleased we had another WSL debut today for Grace,” Harris said. “An experience she will never forget and what an opponent to come up against in ‘Bunny’ Shaw. She will remember that for ever and it is a great experience in her journey.”

Manchester United clinched a 2-0 win against Bristol City at Leigh Sports Village, Lisa Naalsund scoring twice with United’s only two shots on target. United struck early but the visitors held Marc Skinner’s side to the one-goal advantage for most of the match. Jamie-Lee Napier’s second yellow card and dismissal in the 82nd minute, proved to be a turning point. Naalsund subsequently struck again in added time to seal the win.

Liverpool also added to their points tally with a 3-1 win over West Ham. Leanne Kiernan broke the deadlock in the 41st minute, with Missy Bo Kearns adding to the scoresheet after half-time. Sophie Roman Haug sealed the win with a clever strike from close range, before West Ham scored a consolation late on through Riko Ueki.

Swedish international Matilda Vinberg scored the only goal of the game as Tottenham beat Leicester 1-0, converting a Jessica Naz cross in the second minute of the game.