The Mancunian Women’s Main Event

So after the warm-up in Leigh it was off to Manchester proper for Man City against Arsenal at the Etihad Academy Stadium that is just across the road from the Etihad Stadium proper. This match was between two of the biggest hitters in domestic Women’s football in England. They are both perennial challengers for the WSL title and with the hosts in 5th and their visitors leading the way by 4 points and a game in hand I was expecting one hell of a game. I was not disappointed, but first I had to get there.

Getting out of Leigh was the hardest part of the journey as I made the call to get lunch before leaving and thus missed the bus by 5 minutes and had to wait 50 minutes for the next one. Having finally gotten out of Leigh and survived the long journey to central Manchester down awful roads I still had hours till kick-off so decided to get dinner in the city before getting the tram from Piccadilly station to the game.

The tram to get is the light blue line towards Ashton-under-lyne and then you can either get off at Velopark stop, just across a busy dual-carriageway from the stadium, or you can get off at Etihad Campus stop and take the connecting bridge over the road from the Etihad to the Academy stadium. The view either way from the bridge is incredible, with the two stadiums in the 360 view and if I can work out how to get pictures on this blog at some point it will be added to the blog.

I got to the ground 90 minutes before the kick-off and decided to tour the stadium and try to make it all the way round. This is not possible as there is a fenced off area with pitches for youngsters to play on. This attempt to lap the stadium did however get me to the team’s entry point to the stadium just as the Arsenal coaches arrived and the ladies headed straight down the tunnel. I understand that is probably a Covid protocol, but it would be great to see players interact with the fans again.

Once all the players had headed inside I continued round the south side of the stadium, past the blue cartoon wall that was painted using inspiration from drawings by local schoolchildren. The wall is known as the ‘Football Effect’ wall and it is great to see the connection between the team and it’s local community. This cartoon wall is incredible, but the rest of the local area is lacking in things to do and with the merch and programmes only on sale inside the stadium there is no reason to get to the ground early.

I however had got there early and so I headed inside the stadium as soon as the turnstiles opened, an hour before the game, and headed from my entry point, at the South East end of the stadium, to the programme sellers at the North East end of it. Once I had the programme I grabbed food and a drink, non-alcoholic drinks are free at the stadium for all WSL games, then took my seat. I was in my seat for the keepers warm-up and I have never been in my seat that early before. It also seems like the sprinkler guys were not expecting warm-ups that early as the sprinklers were still on and they were also not set up correctly. Instead of just watering the pitch they were also watering the walkway in front of the stand that the home fans had to walk down to get from one end of the stand to the other, it was rather funny watching people running the gauntlet and trying not to get soaked. The sprinklers were turned off before the outfield players emerged for their warm-ups.

At the end of the warm-ups the City players came over to the East stand, populated by home fans, to applaud those who had come out to watch them. This was a lovely gesture from the home team and a great way to connect with their fans, more fans should follow their lead. Arsenal reciprocated the gesture by coming across to the east stand to pose for a team photo in front of the fans, after they had re-emerged for the start of the match.

The away fans were in the west stand, but they had the line-ups and handshakes between the teams to enjoy. There were no fans behind either goal but the screen was away behind the north goal, in north west corner of the ground and large enough to be easily seen by both sets of supporters. I was hoping it would work better than the screen for the United game had and I was not disappointed.

After whizzing through the visitors squad with Mead, Little and Miedema all starting and Heath on the bench the announcer went very slowly through the home team. It was a good thing too as injuries had forced the hosts to give game time to a 17 year old goal keeper, Kiara Keeting, but they had not seen fit to include her on the programme and the tortoise speed of the announcer allowed me to get her full name right and write it onto my programme. City had also elected to leave Ellen White on the bench, with Alex Greenwood and Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw leading the line instead.

With those few things all sorted out and having moved seats 3 times, due to other people already having taken my seat and not wanting to cause a scene to get it back, the game got underway.

It didn’t take long for the action to commence and in the second minute Arsenal had their first chance of the game. This chance came from a freekick from 25 yards out and it didn’t quite go as planned. The freekick was taken quickly by Leah Williamson, but it went straight into the face of Kim Little from point blank range. Not a great move from Williamson there to hit your team captain in the face, but luckily Little was able to carry on after a bit of treatment.

City were working their way into the game, but then almost gifted the Gunners a goal in the 9th minute. A mix-up between Steph Houghton and Keeting in the goal left the ball free to run to Beth Mead but, luckily for City, she was unable to sort her feet out in time and by the time her shot came in there was a defender in place to clear it away.

Arsenal just kept coming though and a minute later they fashioned another chance. This one came down the right and the cross to the back post was turned towards goal by the outstretched boot of Vivianne Miedema, but Keeting made up for her mistake a minute beforehand by getting down low to save a certain goal.

The game was interrupted in the 12th minute as Williamson once again smashed a ball into another player’s face. This time it was a clearance that hit Lauren Hemp of City from point blank range. Once again though the player hit in the face was able to continue after a bit of treatment. The Ladies were outshining the Men on this front, there was none of the rolling around and messing around that you see after tackles in the Men’s game.

The game was all pass and move, a real game for the purists. In the 15th minute City finally fashioned their first presentable chance of the match as they had a cross from the right that was met by Hemp in the centre, but her header looped into the waiting arms of Manuela Zinsberger. It was an unfortunate end to the first great chance for the hosts.

The hosts had been getting a lot of joy down their right through Jess Park, who had the beating of Katie McCabe every time she carried the ball forward. These attacks were coming to nothing though and when their attack broke down in the 16th minute their visitors broke on them. This break was unceremoniously bought to an end though as Georgia Stanway cleared out McCabe and got a yellow for her troubles. I don’t believe there was any intent behind the tackle, but it was still one of the clearest yellows I’ve seen at a Women’s match.

In the 22nd minute Arsenal were on the attack again and Mead whipped over a cross, but this time it was cleared away and set City on the break through Lauren Hemp. She worked the ball upfield and her ball across field to Park was perfect. Park then advanced into the area and then fired just over the top. It was the closest City had come to scoring and it underlined my belief that there were goals in this game for certain. I didn’t know when the goals would come, but I knew they would come.

The first goal almost came in the next minute as Arsenal rob the ball off Kiera Walsh in their attacking third. They worked the ball to Miedema on the edge of the box, who only had to turn and shoot. Instead she overplayed the ball by trying to lay it off to a teammate on her left and this allowed City to get back in and grab the ball back. This was a huge wasted chance for the visitors and it really should have been 1-0.

City took this let off and went on the attack in the 25th minute. This chance came through Park down the right as she beat McCabe and tried to cross the ball into the net, but Keeting was once again equal to the visitors effort. Despite having the beating of McCabe it was just minutes after this that Park decided to change sides and give up the biggest advantage City had over their visitors. Arsenal chose the same time for their wingers to change sides of the pitch as well. This change only lasted a short time though as less than 10 minutes before all the wingers switched back to their original sides.

Whilst the wingers were on the switched sides there was the first sign of rising tensions in the game. There was a freekick to City in the 33rd minute that had to be delayed due to a confrontation between Hemp and McCabe, for which they both picked up yellow cards. As they were getting yellows though my attention was drawn to Williamson who had gone down on the turf. Thankfully she was able to continue after treatment and the game continued without injuries.

The 36th minute was when City took control of the half for the last 10 minutes, a deep cross from the right picked out Hemp 10 yards but she could only head it over the bar. Then in the 39th minute City had another free header from 10 yards out that was also put inches over the bar. This time the gilt-edged chance fell to Lucy Bronze as she was picked out by a gorgeous freekick from Greenwood. Bronze was so frustrated not to have taken this chance that she thumped the ground to dissipate her frustration. It’s great to see this passion from players as it will bleed through to the fans and build the passion in the fans that is needed to keep them coming back and build up the Women’s game.

There also need to be controversial decisions once in a while too that fans can argue about and one presented itself in the 41st minute when Mead was making a covering run and accidently ran into the City player with the ball and knocked her down. Some people would say that this was an accident and not a foul, but in this game the ref decided that it was a foul and gave a freekick to City. This is the kind of decision that could go either way and gives fans something to talk about once the game is done.

From there the half petered out as City kept on the attack but never looked threatening enough to actually score, so I decided to go join the half-time food queues early. With City on the attack I knew I wasn’t going to miss anything, there was a great view of the penalty area that City were attacking from the food queue. That queue took ages, despite the two queues at my end and another kiosk at the other end and I was only just getting my drink as the teams re-emerged for the second half.

Whilst I was waiting the first half ended 0-0, but I was still certain that there would be goals eventually. Over half-time the tannoy played Meat-loaf over the speakers in a tribute to the recently passed music legend.

Jonas Eidevall had other things on his mind during half time though as he decided to make changes to his Arsenal side for the second half. He took off Williamson and replaced her in central defence with Rafaelle Souza. It didn’t make a lot of difference to the momentum of the game as City created the first chance of the half in the 49th minute as Vicky Losada got herself into space on the edge of the box and fired a shot in that missed the post by inches. It looked to me like it had been deflected on the way through, but a goal kick was given so it must have gone straight behind instead.

Before that though there was a collision in midfield which left players down from both teams. The City player was on her feet so quickly that I couldn’t work out who she was, but Mead was down for longer, but she was able to carry on after treatment. She then created a great chance for herself in the 52nd minute as she was set free down the left-hand side where she turned Bronze inside out then moved into the box before shooting straight at the keeper.

City made a substitution in the 57th minute with Caroline Weir entering the fray for Losada but it didn’t turn the game in their favour. Arsenal were back on the attack in the 59th minute as they got the ball to Miedema on the left, who cut inside and shot straight down the throat of Keeting. Either side of the keeper and it would have been 1-0 to the gunners, but there is no way this game was ending goalless.

In the 61st minute a ball out to the left from Little got to McCabe as Bronze slipped as she went to clear. McCabe’s cross was deflected goalward by a City defender, but Keeting was equal to the shot. She got to the ball no problem, but then spilt it out into the centre of the area. It looked like Miedema would get a simple tap-in until Keeting recovered just in time to gather it off her feet as she went to shoot.

With this scare survived it was the City’s turn to go on the attack. They worked the ball out to Park on the right who dribbled into the area and then shot into the bottom left corner of the goal, but Zinsberger was equal to it and got down to save. Unfortunately for Arsenal the ball then squirmed out of her grip and back into the area. Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw was running onto it and looked like she would get there first for the simplest tap-in of her career, but there was a defender who recovered just in time to nip it off her toes and get it clear. I was still convinced that one would go in soon though, it had too surely.

Arsenal made a double substitution in the 63rd minute when they replaced Nikita Parris and Frida Maanum with Lia Walti and the American legend Tobin Heath. The latter substitution would be the more consequential in the scope of the match.

After that double substitution one finally went in. and it went to City. They got it as Hemp got the ball on the left and sprinted down the wing. Her cross put the ball on a plate for Shaw just 6 yards out. She wasn’t missing from there and finally we had the opening goal of a truly enthralling match. The goal was not without controversy though as the ball that set Hemp free on the wing had hit the referee on the way to her. Normally when the ball hits the ref play is restarted with a drop ball but in this case, as the ball went from one City player to another and didn’t change teams, the ref played on. This is completely legal by the rules of the game and I was happy the goal stood as I had been waiting to celebrate a goal all game. The Arsenal bench were less impressed though and Eidevall even got a yellow card for his protests. Shaw had put City 1-0 up and as far as the ref was concerned that was the end of it.

Arsenal made a substitution in the 72nd minute, with Jordan Nobbs replaced by debutant Stina Blackstenius, and City then reciprocated with one of their own in the 74th. Having given them the lead Shaw was then removed from action and replaced by Ellen White, the last person Arsenal will have wanted to see having just gone behind.

City almost doubled their lead in the 77th minute as they attacked through the middle at speed. Stanway had the ball and with White running free in the centre it looked like the right move to play her in. For some reason though Stanway played it to Hemp on her left and the shot was saved by the legs of Zinsberger and behind for a corner.

Arsenal were searching for an equaliser as the game entered the final 10 minutes of the match, but it was City who were in control the whole time. They created the first chance of the final 10 as they worked the ball to Weir 20 yards from goal. Her shot was aimed to the keeper’s right, but Zinsberger got down to keep the game at 1-0. City were back on the attack again in the 85th minute and this time it was a solo effort. Their striker weaved her way through the Gunner’s defence with ease, but was then eased off the ball just as she shaped to shoot. No matter though as they had another chance just a minute later, this time shooting from distance, but once again Zinsberger was able to get to it and palmed it wide.

City then decided to make a substitution in the 88th minute as they looked to close the game out and it rather seemed to disrupt their momentum. Stanway was replaced by Laura Coombs and it was from this point on that Arsenal were on top till the final whistle.

First Arsenal launched a freekick into the area which ended up making it’s way to Miedema at the penalty spot. She turned and volleyed the ball towards goal, but it was deflected just over the top. Then the board came up for the added time and it turned out there were 6 minutes, which Arsenal would use to their advantage.

They finally got the goal their play deserved in this added time. They worked the ball out to Mead on the left who couldn’t get a shot away, so she passed to Blackstenius who also couldn’t get a shot away. She laid ball back left to the onrushing Tobin Heath who did get a shot away, a beautiful shot. Curled from the left of the box and right round Keeting in the City goal and into the bottom right corner of the net. It was a thing of beauty and there was still time for either side to get a winner.

It was Arsenal that had the chances to get the winner, they had two. The first came from a ball across the box that landed at the feet of Miedema, but her shot was tame and easy for Keeting to save. Then the final Arsenal chance was ended just as it began. Little was running free down the centre and was setting the Gunners on the break when she was stopped in her tracks by Walsh. The City lady went in the book for what was a cynical challenge, but it was also the smartest yellow of her career and an excellent tactical decision which kept the scores level.

The scores ended level too and whilst it would not have been fair for either team to have lost the match I would have loved to have seen a winner as it would have been a cracking end to an awesome match. A match which was a brilliant advert for Women’s football and for Women’s sport in general. It was certainly one of the best football matches I have been too in a long time and I’m looking forward to returning to Women’s football in 2 weeks time for the Manchester derby, as long as I can get a ticket that is.

I have a lot of football to go to between now and then though as I have games to go to at weekends and midweek until then and a blog to write about my trip to a League 2 derby in Manchester yesterday. That was Oldham Athletic vs Rochdale and I’ll be writing that blog in the next few days, if all goes to plan. See you then for the quintessential 0-0.