Man City beat Liverpool to close on WSL title

Manchester City signed off for the international break with a commanding 4-0 win over Liverpool in the Barclays Women’s Super League (WSL).

Two clinical efforts from Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw had City in control before the break, with Jill Roord adding a third just after the hour.

Gracie Prior then opened her account for the Club on her first WSL start with ten to play when her cross found the top corner of the Liverpool net to complete the scoring.

The win moved City back to within two points of the WSL top three, and extended our winning run to three matches in all competitions.

City’s bright start soon warmed up the home support on a bitterly cold evening at the Joie Stadium.

Aoba Fujino, one of the Blues in-form players, was the first to go close when her deflected effort from close-range came crashing off the inside of a Liverpool post, with Yui Hasegawa then stinging Teagan Micah’s palms soon after.

The hosts had been on top, but Liverpool did carve out two big chances in relatively quick succession, the first seeing Leanne Kiernan fire into the side netting after stealing in on a Laia Aleixandri clearance.

Number two was much more of a let-off for City, with Rebecca Knaak clearing off the line from Ceri Holland after Ayaka Yamashita had stopped Kiernan in her tracks.

Lack of goals aside, it had been an entertaining first 30 at the Joie Stadium, but that problem was soon rectified by a familiar source when Shaw, starved of any real goal action so far, took her first real chance with ruthless efficiency.

Mary Fowler was the spark, knocking an inch-perfect pass through the Liverpool defence to the Jamaican, who steadied herself and found the far corner.

And the duo would combine again just before half-time to give City some breathing space heading into the break.

Fowler’s dart down the left found Shaw alone in the box, with our forward plucking the ball out of the air and rifling a half-volley on the turn into the corner.

It was the fourth WSL game in a row where the Australian had grabbed at least two goal involvements, a league record, and Shaw’s tenth goal in six games against Liverpool.

The forward almost completed her hat-trick inside two minutes of the restart when trying to get on the end of Fujino’s effort across goal.

City were starting to turn the screw as the hour mark approached, with Vivianne Miedema forcing Micah into another fine save after being fed by Fujino.

And a third would follow soon after, when Roord reacted fastest to her initial effort from the edge of the box being blocked, sending a vicious drive into the Liverpool net off the post.

The Dutch international then went close to her second and City’s fourth when she rose highest to meet a Leila Ouahabi cross but couldn’t quite get over the ball enough to divert the header on target.

Number four arrived with ten to play though when Prior capped off an already memorable evening with her first City goal.

The young defender burst down the right and looked to whip a cross into the far post, only to see her effort sail over Micah and into the top corner.

At the other end, Yamashita was determined to keep her clean sheet intact despite the win already being all but assured, pulling off two outstanding saves in quick succession from Taylor Hinds and Cornelia Kapocs.

But it was City who went closest to finding the net in the dying minutes, with substitute Kerolin Nicoli seeing a cleverly disguised effort come crashing back off the inside of the post in stoppage time.