Manchester United have continued their Barclays Women’s Super League title push with a 5-0 victory over Aston Villa at Old Trafford this afternoon.
It was a momentous occasion for The Red Devils as more than 30,000 fans packed into Old Trafford to watch their side face Carla Ward’s Aston Villa, a record attendance for a Manchester United women’s team fixture. Marc Skinner’s side produced a performance to match the occasion as they ran out 5-0 victors against a very depleted Aston Villa side.
Manchester United opened the scoring just before the 15-minute mark. Some good interplay down the right from Ella Toone and Ona Batlle opened up the space for the Spaniard to deliver a cross into the Aston Villa box. Alessia Russo attacked the ball but couldn’t get a decent connection, however, the visitors failed to clear their lines and The Red Devils captain Katie Zelem was able to hammer a shot home from close range.
The hosts then doubled their lead just before the half-hour mark through Leah Galton. A lovely move through the middle began with a neat pass from Russo which found Toone in a pocket of space 30 yards from goal. The Manchester United number seven was then able to play through Galton who found the back of the net with the outside of her left boot. Hannah Hampton was able to get a glove to the ball but it wasn’t enough to prevent the home side from doubling their advantage.
As the second half got underway, Manchester United showed no signs of letting up and soon they had made it 3-0. There was some delightful one-touch passing before Toone fizzed a cross into the area which was converted by Russo. It was by no means an easy finish but the England striker made it look so simple as she side-footed the ball past a helpless Hampton.
The goals didn’t end there and Batlle was next to get in on the act. The full-back gathered the ball from a narrow angle and let rip with a piledriver which cannoned down off the crossbar and the post before nestling in the back of the net.
Skinner’s side then should have had five shortly after but were denied by the referee’s whistle. It was once again a wonderful piece of build-up play that set Galton clean through on goal but she was brought down just outside of the area by Anna Patten. The Manchester United winger recovered superbly and fired the ball past Hampton but referee Louise Saunders was a bit too keen to blow the whistle and had already awarded the free-kick.
Still, the red half of Manchester did eventually have their fifth goal as some industrious play from Batlle on the right snatched the ball from Aston Villa. The Spaniard played in substitute Rachel Williams who probably couldn’t believe her luck as she was left with a simple tap in from two yards for her first Manchester United goal to round off the scoring.
The result sent Manchester United top of the Barclays Women’s Super League table, although that was likely to change hours later with Arsenal and Chelsea both in action.
About The Author
