Man United beaten narrowly in Women Super League
Manchester United were narrowly beaten to the Women’s Super League title by Chelsea despite a 1-0 victory over Liverpool on the final day.
United went into the final weekend of their best WSL campaign knowing European football was already secure, having also kept the title race alive with an impressive last-gasp victory over Manchester City in their penultimate game.
Their courageous approach was commended by Chelsea manager Emma Hayes in the lead up to Saturday’s concluding round of fixtures, as she called United “one of the best teams in the league”, but Marc Skinner’s side ultimately fell short by two points after the Blues cruised past Reading.
Hoping to capitalise on any potential Chelsea slip-up, United super sub Lucia Garcia scored the only goal of the afternoon three minutes after entering the field, lifting the ball over Gemma Bonner before rifling low into the bottom corner in the 72nd minute.
The win was not enough to upstage Hayes’ champions, who retain their title for a fourth consecutive season after decisive strikes from Sam Kerr (2) and Guro Reiten led to a 3-0 triumph over the relegated Royals.
United were in need of an early goal to heap increased pressure on their title rivals – perhaps that would have set nerves jangling among Chelsea’s camp.
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Instead, news broke of Kerr’s opener before United had really got going against Liverpool, trying too hard to force unachievable entries, knowing their fate was in Chelsea hands.
Nikita Parris headed straight at Rachael Laws before the Liverpool stopper tipped Parris’ curler onto the post at the end of a frustrating half, with neither side able to gain a meaningful foothold.
Mary Earps, who had relatively little to do throughout, was called into action to deny Emma Koivisto after a quick Liverpool break caught United exposed. Their goalkeeper maintained parity with a clawing save before the breakthrough arrived five minutes later.
Garcia was the fresh impetus United needed to go more direct, teasing Liverpool’s backline with clever movement before fashioning an opening with immense quality.