City takes home three points against Everton

Keira Walsh seals the deal for Manchester City nine minutes from time.

Sam Mewis missed the best chance in the first half when a deflected free-kick fell perfectly into her path in front of goal, but she slid a first-time effort wide of the post. Solid defending from Willie Kirk’s side meant Sandy MacIver was also relatively untroubled, though Everton looked to play on the break but couldn’t test Ellie Roebuck, The home team (City) picked up the pace a little after the break but still struggled to create meaningful opportunities until the 65th minute when they got in behind the Everton defence for the first time.

Ellen White found herself striding forward for a shot, but the striker dragged her shot well wide to spurn a golden opportunity. The breakthrough did come, however, with just under 10 minutes to go. Lauren Hemp broke down the right and her pull back was met by the on-rushing Walsh, who found the bottom corner with a curling shot.

The midfielder applied the finishing touch to an excellent counter-attack to seal a seventh consecutive win in all competitions for the title-chasers against a stubborn visiting Blue side.

Gareth Taylor,Manchester City manager, said: “It is difficult when you play against a lowish block with five at the back and we’ve done that in the last two games. “We weren’t at our very best, but it’s one real moment of quality from Keira. The way we handled them at the end when they were putting balls into the box was excellent. “Goals aren’t a big part of Keira’s game, but when she does (score) then it’s fantastic for us. It was not an easy finish and it was needed because it wasn’t an easy game up to that point. “The defence stood firm. Steph (Houghton) and Alex (Greenwood) did really well and I thought Chloe (Kelly) was the spark in our attack. I thought she’d be the one to unlock the game – I think she enjoys going up against her former team and she was a real threat again today.”

Manchester City (4-3-3): Ellie Roebuck; Lucy Bronze, Steph Houghton, Alex Greenwood, Esme Morgan; Keira Walsh, Sam Mewis, Caroline Weir; Chloe Kelly, Ellen White, Lauren Hemp Substitutes: Rose Lavelle for Mewis 67’, Georgia Stanway for White 67’, Laura Coombs for Weir 88’ Substitutes not used: Karima Benameur Taieb, Khiara Keating, Aoife Mannion, Janine Beckie, Millie Davies, Abby Dahlkemper Goals: Walsh 81’ Everton (3-5-2): Sandy MacIver; Rikke Sevecke, Megan Finnigan, Gabby George; Ingrid Moe Wold, Izzy Christiansen, Lucy Graham, Maeva Clemaron, Danielle Turner; Nicoline Sorensen, Valerie Gauvin Substitutes: Poppy Pattinson for Turner 26’, Hayley Raso for Moe Wold 41’, Claire Emslie for Gauvin 73, Simone Magill for George 73’ Substitutes not used: Tinja-Riikka Korpela, Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah, Alisha Lehmann, Abbey-Leigh Stringer, Grace Clinton Bookings: Clemaron 79’, Pattinson 90’

Referee: Sarah Garratt