‘I’m probably prouder today than I was on Sunday’ says Manchester United boss Stoney

Manchester United staged a dramatic comeback in this afternoon’s early kick-off in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League to grab a point against local rivals Manchester City in a 2-2 draw at the Leigh Sports Village.

The sky blue half of Manchester dominated proceedings in the first half but The Red Devils came out fighting in the second period to salvage a point from the match after coming back from two goals down.

“I don’t think we were at the races” said manager Casey Stoney when speaking about her side’s slow start in the post-match press conference. “We didn’t come out fighting like we did against Arsenal, we let Manchester City get in their rhythm.”

United responded strongly after being arguably the weaker side for most of the match. The Red Devils came into the match off the back of a superb result against Arsenal last weekend, but Stoney was more pleased with the resolve shown by her side this afternoon.

She said “I have to say I’m probably prouder today than I was on Sunday, because I think it shows the shift in our mentality.”

United’s unbeaten start to the league season was under serious threat at half-time but thanks to their comeback they are still one of only two sides who remain undefeated in the league this season.

“We want to stay unbeaten for as long as we can but it’s about performances” said Stoney. “These players work hard day in, day out to make sure that we can do that and I thought again our game changers came on and made a huge difference in the second half and put us on the front foot a bit more.

“I’m a very fortunate coach that I’ve got the bench that I’ve got and they come on and make a difference like that.”

A lot of the attention at United has gone to their two FIFA Women’s World Cup winners who they brought in over the summer, Tobin Heath and Christen Press, however, the players who have had the biggest impacts in the last couple of weeks have been players who have been with Stoney since the beginning. Ella Toone got the winner against Arsenal and substitutes Jess Sigsworth and Kirsty Hanson have proved decisive in the last two fixtures. Stoney is astounded at the progress they’ve made given that they have been able to make the step up from the FA Women’s Championship to the Barclays FA Women’s Super League so quickly.

The United boss commented by saying “I think it says a huge amount about how hard they work day in, day out to improve, how open-minded they are, how coachable they are.

“I think in terms of they way they’ve been moving forward, the way they’ve developed over the last two years, it shows you they’re coming on in games against top opposition and not only coping, they’re thriving.”

It must have been one hell of a team talk in the dressing room at half-time because Stoney’s side looked like an entirely different team in the second period. Although she may have a reputation for being quite a formidable presence in the game, Stoney says that she remained very reserved at the interval.

“I was actually relatively calm for once because I had to take an element of responsibility for it” she confessed. “I don’t think our press was working and that’s my press, it’s my decision to do that.

“They didn’t need me to go in and turn the kettle on, so to speak, or get the hairdryer out.”

It still takes a tremendous amount of character to bounce back after being outplayed for 45 minutes, so what does Stoney make of her team’s attitude to respond in the way that they did?

“You can’t understate that because it’s their strength of character and their belief that at 2-0 down, sitting in that dressing room they can turn it around” said the United boss. “I’ve got to be really honest, I don’t think that would’ve happened last year.”

There are lessons to learn from every match and Stoney will certainly take some away from this fixture and apply them on Thursday when City return to the Leigh Sports Village for the FA Women’s Continental League Cup clash. Although we couldn’t expect her to reveal them right away, she did leave us with one thing that we can expect from her side in the future.

“Consistency. No matter who we’re playing we have to be consistent in our performances” she said. “We have to apply ourselves from the first whistle to the last.”

If Stoney is true to her word and we can expect some consistency from Manchester United for the remainder of the season, we could see them in the UEFA Women’s Champions League places at the end of the season or even higher.