Manchester United boss Casey Stoney paid tribute to defender Millie Turner after the player netted the winning goal against Tottenham Hotspur at The Hive this afternoon and contributed to her side’s clean sheet.
The 24-year-old Wilmslow-born centre-back popped up in the 67th minute of the match to head home the only goal of the game to hand United their third consecutive league victory.
It was a very different outcome for the defender just three days earlier with Turner having conceded a penalty kick in United’s 3-1 defeat to Liverpool in the FA Women’s Continental League Cup. When speaking to FA Women’s Super League Full-Time in Manchester United’s post-match press conference following this afternoon’s victory at Spurs, United boss Stoney hailed Turner’s reaction.
“I’m pleased for Millie because she knows better than anyone that she wasn’t good enough on Wednesday, it was a poor performance from her” Stoney said. “I think she reacted brilliantly today and I am pleased that she got the goal, it will help improve her confidence.”
Despite Turner’s error at Prenton Park in midweek, Stoney went on to say that she had no plans to drop the player ahead of this afternoon’s match at The Hive.
She added “That’s the beauty of football, you get an opportunity and we’ve put her back in.
“We haven’t shied away from it, we haven’t changed her which we to be honest, we probably couldn’t have anyway given the limitations we have with centre-backs.
“It was about building her back up, making her think that she could do the job that we needed her to do and I thought that she did it well.
“It was pleasing to see her get the goal and ultimately, for us to get three points.”
United registered 18 shots on goal but managed to find the back of the net just once. While manager Stoney was pleased with the result, she went on to highlight a need for improvement in-front of goal.
“I asked for a reaction and I probably got that” said Stoney. “I wasn’t pleased with the start, I feel like we gave away chances and unnecessary possession.
“From there on in, we definitely created more clear-cut chances but we can’t keep missing them.
“Every time we miss a chance, the opposition keeps a hold and stays in the game so we need to kill them off.”
Manchester United are back in action again next Sunday when they travel to West Ham United in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League.
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