Manchester United manager Casey Stoney believes that her side still has every chance of qualifying for quarter-finals of the FA Women’s Continental League Cup despite losing their opening group match against Liverpool at Prenton Park this afternoon.
The Red Devils led after half an hour on Merseyside but were eventually beaten 3-1 by the FA Women’s Championship club.
United now face tremendously tough fixtures against Everton and Manchester City in their remaining group games but manager Stoney believes that her side’s FA Women’s Continental League Cup dreams are not over just yet.
“Its one of them where we have lost our first game but we lost a game previously in our first year and still ended up winning the group” said the United boss when speaking to FA Women’s Super League Full-Time after the match.
“We’ve made it harder for ourselves, absolutely, but it doesn’t mean that we are out of the group.”
With United leading 1-0 at Prenton Park, the hosts were soon awarded a penalty for a hand ball by Jane Ross. Whilst the offence seemed controversial, Stoney was in no mood to criticise the officials.
She said “I’ve watched it back several times and I can’t see a deliberate hand ball.
“Listen, the penalty was given and we were still in the game.
“The bottom line is that we weren’t good enough, if you’re not good enough and defend like we did against set pieces today, you are going to get punished.”
The real turning point came a little under 20 minutes from time when Millie Turner caught Jess Clarke in the box to hand Liverpool a second penalty kick. United boss Stoney believes that her side looked like the only winners prior to that incident.
“Its an individual error, it turns the game” highlighted Stoney. “They get life in their game, they start attacking us more, they bank up a little more and it becomes harder for us to break them down.
“It was unnecessary.”
Manchester United will look to quickly move on from this afternoon’s defeat when they travel to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday lunchtime in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League.
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