BY JODI KEEN
Marc Skinner’s reds looked to make it seven wins on the bounce in the Women’s Super League this afternoon. They welcomed tenth placed Leicester City to Leigh Sports Village with their sights firmly set on Champions League qualification for next season.
Coming into this week’s early kick off, the foxes fielded an unchanged starting eleven from the line up that produced that huge 3-0 win over struggling Aston Villa before the international break. Leicester City also recently celebrated the call up of their first ever senior Lioness in Ruby Mace last December.
United looked to solidify themselves into this season’s top three with Marc Skinner making a trio of changes to the side that beat bottom side Crystal Palace 3-1 during their last venture out at Leigh Sports Village. Aoife Mannion, Melvine Malard and Celin Bizet all returned to the starting eleven replacing Hinata Miyazawa, Jayde Riviere and Elisabeth Turland. Mannion and Bizet both featured from the bench however in the red devils last home fixture before the February international break. Miyazawa returned from international duty with Japan after lifting the She Believes cup with her nation in the states.
From the whistle, Skinner’s reds began hunting down the foxes from the off. Maya Le Tissier led from the back, captaining her side with so much maturity despite still being only 22 years old. The first ten minutes were full of Manchester United dominance, playing with confidence backed by that six league game winning streak coming into the fixture. The foxes struggled to build on any possession being continuously disrupted by the red’s relentless pursuit of goal.
Ella Toone looked to pull the trigger anytime the ball fell to her on the edge of the opposition box with the home support erupting in echoes of ‘shoot’ every time the ball touched her boots. The battles between Toone and fellow lionesses midfielder Ruby Mace were fantastic to see. Mace ,a former Manchester City player, competed with the best of the best today in her international teammate Toone showing Sarina Wiegman what she can do before Euro 2025 squad selection this summer.
Toone played a brilliant ball through to Malard who did well to break free from her defender and slotted the ball away to put the reds ahead. The french striker ,on only her second start of the WSL season, made a well timed break away and was able to punish the Leicester city defence as a result.
Miquel’s foxes began to show more resilience following the opening goal. Providing more powerful blocks as United attacked, which helped to keep the home side at bay. Hlin Eiríksdóttir was a bright spark for the midlands side. Despite playing primarily as a striker, the Icelandic forward helped to drop deep in longer defensive spells of play and supported the midfield to help construct brief attacks for the away side.
The officials caused controversy at Leigh Sports Village as the referee suffered the discontent of the crowd with a missed penalty claim in the first twenty five minutes for United. There was also confusion for the 3,950 fans in attendance around a foul on Grace Clinton close to the break where both sides seemed unsure of what the referee’s decision was off the back of the challenge. Officiating in the WSL has come under fire in the last few seasons with many fans claiming the standard of refereeing isn’t where it should be in the women’s top flight.
Just before the end of the half, Leah Galton delighted the fans of Manchester United again with the second goal of the afternoon shooting from a through ball supplied by initial goalscorer Malard.
Half Time Manchester United 2-0 Leicester City
Leicester boss Amandine Miquel decided that it was time for a change with Hlin Eiríksdóttir making way for Yuka Momiki at the start of the second half. United looked to push Leicester even further into their own half after the break, starting attacks from the back line consisting of lionesses Le Tissier, Turner and George completed by Irish international Aoife Mannion.
At the hour mark, the foxes brought on further reinforcements in the form of Shannon O’Brien and Hannah Cain with captain Janice Cayman and Shana Chossenotte making way. The attacking substitutions did help to give Leicester some spirit going forward, however the foxes struggled to produce anything clinical in front of goal despite a stand out substitute appearance from Momiki who battled well against a strong United defence.
Hinata Miyazawa was given a fantastic welcome back to Leigh when Skinner called upon her from the bench following a great international window with her nation Japan. The dynamic midfielder has produced several good performances in red this season, most notably against Manchester city at the Etihad in January helping her side to a historic 4-2 win.
Amandine Miquel made a further two changes approaching the last fifteen minutes of the game as her side grew in confidence with Sam Tiereny and Missy Goodwin allowing for Saori Takarada and Nelly Las to see what could be made of the last quarter of the second half.
Mallard tried to add a second assist of the afternoon to her tally as she lined up a cross to Celin Bizet who dashed into the opposition box however it was well blocked by a resilient Leicester back line. The reds couldn’t add to their two goal tally before full time as the game finished goalless in a disappointing second half. However, Manchester United continue to climb closer to cementing themselves in this season’s top three and playing European football next season.
Full Time Manchester United 2-0 Leicester City
