Match Report: Double Bunny As Manchester City Women Beat Spurs

Manchester City Women recorded their second win of the season as they beat Spurs at Brisbane Road. A brace by Bunny Shaw and a solo strike from Lauren Hemp secured the blues first three points on the road this season.

Manager Gareth Taylor named an unchanged side following last weekend’s 4-0 hammering of Leicester at the Academy Stadium as the blues looked to secure their second successive win at Spurs.

City won 1-0 in London last season as they hunted down Manchester United for that third place finish but hadn’t made the greatest of starts to the new campaign. Defeat at Aston Villa and Chelsea had seen the blues in an unfamiliar position near the foot of the table, and last week’s home win relieved some of the pressure.

Spurs had won two of their first three matches and had beaten Liverpool 1-0 in their last match before facing Taylor’s side.

What happened?

City dominated the first half but had a scare as early as the fourth minute. Ellie Roebuck had to be alert to nick the ball off Ellie Brazil. The two collided which resulted in the Spurs striker leaving the pitch.

City had the best chance of the half so far when Chloe Kelly’s free-kick was met by the head of Esme Morgan, but the keeper managed to get a hand to it. The blues were beginning to turn the screw and Lauren Hemp tried a cheeky chip from inside the penalty area that went just wide.

Deyna Castellanos tried her luck from outside the area with a powerful drive, but the Spurs keeper was equal to it. Spurs had a chance on 30 minutes which Roebuck saved at her near post and ten minutes later, City took the lead.

Yui Hasegawa’s shot was pushed wide by the keeper, and from the resulting corner, Bunny Shaw found some time and space to direct her header into the back of the goal. Spurs have conceded the most WSL goals from a corner this season, and with such poor marking, it’s easy to see why.

City pressed for a second before half-time, but it didn’t want to arrive and, for all City’s dominance, the blues only went in one goal to the good.

The second half started in similar fashion and Shaw got her fifth goal of the campaign just a minute after kick-off, rifling in from outside the area. Spurs had tried playing it between themselves in their own half but eventually lost the ball to Laura Coombes, who played Shas into space, and the Jamaican striker fired home a daisy-cutter from outside the area and into the bottom corner.

City had more chances as they restricted the home side to a bit part, with Shaw having a couple of half chances to complete her treble. But City were flying and it was only a matter of time before the blues made it 3-0, with Castellanos making a chance out of nothing in the box.

The blues did eventually add a third and when it arrived, it was from the trusted left foot of Hemp. City poured forward again with Coombes, who played Hemp in on the left. The England winger cut inside, then turned the defender to get the ball on her left foot, before firing across goal and into the back of the net off the far post.

It was no more than City deserved and they could have added more, with Hemp and Kelly both firing over from good positions, and Shaw unable to dig the ball from under her feet as another chance for her hat-trick disappeared.

But 3-0 was enough for the blues =, who welcome Blackburn Rovers to the Academy Stadium on Wednesday evening, before hosting Liverpool next Sunday.

Final Score: Tottenham Hotspur Women 0-3 Manchester City Women