Manchester Derby at the Etihad…. Academy

Sunday 13th February 2022: Manchester City Women vs Manchester City Women: Etihad Academy Stadium

Having already been to the Academy stadium for Arsenal’s WSL visit I thought I knew what to expect when I got off the Metrolink tram at the Velopark stop. I was wrong because the queues to get in were biblical!! I had never seen queues like that for a Women’s game and whilst I was impressed to see the awesome level of interest in Women’s football, but then the worry set in that I wouldn’t get in before kick-off. The queues for the North-West and South-West turnstiles were inches away from joining up back to back.

I had been delayed in getting to the stadium by a problem on the trams out of Piccadilly and as such I had to think on my feet to get inside before kick-off. I had bought my book on the train to Manchester in a plastic bag, but the no bag queue was moving an awful lot faster. So I joined it and the steward at the turnstiles was great to me as he realised there was just a book in there and he allowed me to stuff the bag in my pocket and carry the book inside. I was extremely grateful for this as the other option was being sent to the back of the queue, this would have been extremely annoying given the fact that there were no signs to let anyone know the reason for the two queues.

My show of initiative got me into the ground with 15minutes to go before kick-off, but I then had to cross all the way across the north stand to find a programme seller then back across the stand to join the food queue. A queue that, like the one to get into the stadium, moved at a glacial pace. The queue was so bad that I actually missed the first 3 minutes of the match and a pre-match presentation to Ellie Roebuck. I don’t even know what the presentation was for, but it was great to see her back between the sticks for City.

Whilst waiting in the queue I was able to take down the starting 11’s for both teams. I knew City’s team would be missing their injured captain Steph Houghton, but it was a surprise for me to hear that Chloe Kelly, Caroline Weir and Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw (their goalscorer against Arsenal) were also missing from the City starting line-up. Only one of those three would enter the action in the match, but when she came on the impact she had was astronomical. The only players of note missing for United were Lucy Staniforth in midfield and Leah Galton, their greatest goal threat from the match I saw against Tottenham at Leigh.

My seat for the match was excellent, right on halfway and with the dugouts mere metres to my right. I could see Steph Houghton sitting just behind the dugouts, she may be injured and unable to play but she was still there to support her teammates and this was awesome to see. Another even better thing about my particular seat was the set of 5 amateur ex-players in the Women’s game. Their knowledgeable conversation kept me entertained during half-time and in the brief breaks in play throughout the match. It was from then that I found out that Kim Little has retired from international football. This seemed too convenient to me at the time, but on doing my own research after the game it turns out to be true.

Back to this game and United were the noisy neighbours in this derby, but going into this match they were 3 places and 5 points ahead of their hosts. Looking at their respective squads I couldn’t work out why the visitors were ahead in these metrics, but then I remembered all the injuries that City had been dealing with and it made more sense. City had such an awful start to the season that they were behind Reading and level on points with West Ham in the table coming into this one. City’s form had been improving coming into this one though and before the match I wrote in my notes that I was betting on a City win. Was I right? let’s find out.

Early on that bet was looking good as it took just 5 minutes for City to create their first chance of the match as Lucy Bronze got in down the right. Her cross was cleared by the home defence, but only as far as Jess Park who sent it straight back where it came from and this one fell to Vicky Losada on the edge of the box who let rip towards goal and succeeded in nestling the ball on the roof of the net. Mary Earps, between the sticks for United, appeared to have it covered either way but it was a sign of intent from the hosts.

It was a good thing for Alex Greenwood that her City team were on the attack early on because she was wearing a Zorro style mask and seeing that tested was not something anyone needed. Luckily for her and the home supporters City were on the attack again in the 7th minute with Park getting in down the wide open right-hand side and her pinpoint pass to the back post was screwed wide from a yard out by the unfortunate Lauren Hemp. The end result may not have been what the home fans had been hoping for, but the ease with which they got in behind the United defence was impressive and gave me a huge amount of confidence in City’s ability to turn dominance of the ball into goals in this match.

The 11th minute boosted my confidence in this even further as a beautiful 30 yard pas by Bronze dropped on a dime to Ellen White on the right side of the box. Instead of shooting herself she attempted to pull the ball back to Losada at which point the United defence was able to recover their shape and nip it off her toes as she was shaping to shoot. Worse new for City came just 3 minutes later as Georgia Stanway went down under a tackle in the middle of the pitch, but luckily she was able to continue after a quick stint of treatment from the physios.

United got their first chance of the derby in the 16th minute when Vilde Boe Risa shot straight down the Roebuck’s throat, when she had teammates in better positions to her left. The shot had enough power on it for it to squirm out of her hands, but she was able to recover in time to gather the ball before it could be turned home by the lurking Ella Toone.

This attack was a mere blip in City’s domination of the match to this point though as the hosts were back in down the ever leaky United right just 2 minutes later. This time it was Hemp who was in behind on that side this time round, but her cross into the centre was just an inch too close to the keeper and Earps was able to grab it off White’s outstretched toes. Any professional ballet dancer would have been proud of White’s form as she gave her all to connect with the cross but it came to nothing.

In the 24th minute City took to overplaying in the final third to keep the scores level. Losada had the ball in space on the edge of the box but rather than shooting she chose to play the ball out to Park on the right. This gave the home defence the time to organise to the point that when Park crossed the ball back into the box neither Losada or White were able to find the space to shoot through the forest of United legs. If Losada had shot first time there would have been a lot of pressure on Earps, but as it was the United keeper found herself with nothing to do at this point of the match.

United were getting so frustrated at this point in the match that they starting making crazy decisions in an attempt to create chances. A lunge on the half way line from Greenwood gave United a rare free-kick and they lumped it directly towards goal. To attempt to score direct from halfway could be seen as a ballsy move, but in this case it appeared to stem from sheer desperation to find some way back into the match. It was approaching the half hour mark by this point and United had barely had a sniff of the City goal.

A mere 3 minutes after half an hour of play had elapsed City were in behind again and yet again it was down the right that the found the space to create. Park, who had been United’s chief tormentor so far in the match, took the ball to the byline this time before delivering the ball on a silver platter to a teammate at the back post. This teammate managed to keep the score at nil-nil by heading the chance over the bar, till it nestled in it’s comfy spot on the roof of the net. The ball was getting far too used to landing in this spot for my liking.

This chance for City was followed a minute later by United’s best opening of the match so far, though that was not difficult as it was only their second significant chance from open play. Ella Toone had grown infuriated with her teammates lacklustre chance creating ability and so set off on a one-woman mission to create one for her team. She weaved past the City midfield and into space on the left. Her teammate had picked up on this mission and there were 4 of them running free in space in the box looking to connect with the cross that was bound to come, to give the visitors a lead they had no right too.

When Toone whipped in her cross it beat Roebuck but not Greenwood, who had raced back to cover for her bypassed teammates. Greenwood connected with the cross and headed it clear to the palpable relief of the majority of the fans in the stands and the excruciating disappointment of the waiting United players who would have had an empty net to turn the ball into without Greenwood’s intervention. I was amazed that the game remained 0-0.

Having survived this scare City were back on the attack with 5 minutes to go before halftime. Again they got in down the gaping hole that the right side of the pitch became every time they looked to go forwards. This time the City player on the attack was Bronze and her cross had a little too much on it for anyone to connect in the centre of the box. One of her teammates was able to sneak in at the back post, but her connection with the cross was too strong and the ball simply cannoned straight into the ground and then bounced harmlessly into Earp’s arms.

City were not done for the half yet though as Bronze got in down the right yet again. This time she advanced into the box before chipping the ball up for White to connect with just 6 yards from goal in the centre of the area. Once again though the ball found it’s comfy spot on the roof of the net from the resulting header, Another gilt-edged chance goes begging for City and the back of the net must have been starting to get at least a little bit jealous of the close relationship the ball was developing with it’s roof at this point.

The half ended on a sour note for City when Greenwood fell to the turf just as the board went up for 3 minutes of injury time. The City defender was down for ages and it certainly felt like it should have added to the injury time, but the ref blew the whistle to end the half seconds after the physios had finished with Greenwood and it was clear she would be able to continue after the break.

I had no idea how the half had come to a conclusion without a single goal being scored, but it had somehow managed to be so. I spent the half talking with the ex-players next to me and learning from their knowledge of Women’s football. Half-time passed swiftly for me, like a bullet train through the countryside of Japan. I was caught on the hop by the lack of substitutions from the visitors in the break. Given the ease with which City wandered into the space behind the left of their defence I thought that they would have bought on re-enforcements in that area, but they decided against it for reasons that I hoped would become clear during the course of the second half.

The second half took a while to get going and it wasn’t till the 54th that the first decent chance of the half presented itself. It went to City as they attempted to exploit the space on the right that had been so simple to find in the first half. This time though that space had been closed right up and the attack was going nowhere, till Katie Zelem slid in for no reason and took the player rather than the ball. She received the first yellow card of the match for this and give City a free chance at goal. The free-kick was launched towards goal by Greenwood but it just never stopped rising and ballooned harmlessly over the bar.

City were causing United problems again in the 58th minute, but this time they tried their luck down the left. They found the space for Demi Stokes to whip the ball into the centre but, like Greenwood before her, she put too much on the cross and it sailed over everyone in the centre of the box and it then came in too hot to Park at the back post for her to adjust in time, so all she could do was shin the ball behind for a goalkick.

It took till a minute after the hour mark for City to find that space down the right that they had been searching for all half. The insanely energetic Park was the one who found that space and she used it to embarrass the defender opposite her. She zigzagged inside, outside and then inside again to leave her marker dazed and confused on the turf. This done and with space in the box she toe-poked her shot past Earps for what was looking like the goal that City had deserved all match, till it rebounded off the left stick of the goal. The disappointment that I felt as the ball bounced off the post has only been beaten recently by my disappointment at England’s loss on penalties in last summer’s Euro’s final.

United’s first creditable threat to the City goal in this second half came in the 63rd minute and just to make up for lost time they squeezed two into the single minute. The first of these came from the left side of the box and once this one had been palmed off the line by Roebuck they tried again from the right side with the same result. It may not have been a goal for United, but forcing Roebuck to work for her living was certainly an improvement on their efforts so far this half. Just as the visitors were finding a foothold in the half their manager, Mark Skinner, decided to shuffle his pack, bringing on Martha Thomas for Vilde Boe Risa.

This shuffling almost backfired within a minute as a passage of silky interplay between Stanway and Park, including Stanway nutmegging Zelem in the build-up, resulted in Stanway 20 yards from goal slap-bang in the centre of the goal. Her shot was hit like a bullet out the barrel of a AK-47, there was no time for Earps to adjust and get anywhere near it. The aim on her bullet was every so slightly too high though and it whizzed mere millimetres over the bar.

The next 10 minutes died off a cliff as the match entered a mid-half lull, but in that lull City boss Gareth Taylor made his most important call of the match. He made his first substitution and in replacing Vicky Losada with Caroline Wier, who I had expected to start, he changed the course of the derby.

Before we get to Wier’s crowning moment there were two other moments of note in the dying minutes of the 70’s. Both of these moments fell to the visitors, with them first heading agonisingly wide of the back post from a floated corner from the right. Then United attempted to change the match in their favour with their second substitution, replacing Alessia Russo with Kirsty Hanson.

Wier’s crowning moment came in the 81st minute of the match, when she had only been on the pitch for 7 minutes. The ball was worked to her in the centre of the pitch 25 yards from goal, she advanced to the edge of the box and flicked the ball goalwards with exquisite nonchalance. The ball flew gracefully into the top right postage stamp of the goal before finally being able to nestle in the back of the net, as it had threatened to do so often. There is no keeper anywhere in world football that was saving this shot and there were many a jaw that needed to be scooped back up as the supporters processed what they had just seen. It was one of the best pieces of skill I have seen at a football match in a long time and well worth the entrance fee for the stadium record 5,317 fans that had made their way to the match.

The home fans day was almost ruined just a minute later though as a cross from the visitors right beat everyone in the home defence, but luckily it also beat the runs of the United players in the centre and the match remained 1-0 to City. This scare was enough to convince Taylor to shut-up shop though and in the 84th minute he removed the brilliant Jess Park from the action to a standing ovation and bought on Hayley Raso to help her teammates see the match out. The hosts also took to time-wasting on the ball, it’s a fair game management tactic but not especially exciting from the fan perspective.

It worked though as it took until the final minute of the match for United to create another chance. This came on the break down the centre as a ball over the top gave Thomas the chance to run clear, Roebuck wasn’t giving her it all her own way though as she engaged the United striker in a race to the ball. Roebuck won and hacked the ball out for a throw-in and it was a good job she did, as if she had lost then Thomas would have almost certainly equalised into an empty net and robbed the status of match winner from one of the truly great goals I have seen in all my years of attending football games.

As it was the match remained at 1-0 to the hosts and after a last minute substitution for the visitors, Signe Brun replaced by Ivana Fuso, this was how the match ended. A spectacular first-time finish sealing a derby win for City that was a lot more comfortable than the scoreline suggested.

There was a moment of confusion for me after the final whistle though as City’s Kiera Walsh was announced over the PA as the player of the match, for my money Jess Park would have been a much better choice for the accolade as she was a thorn in the side of the visitors right up until being substituted. Wier was also a good shout for the award simply for the quality of her match-winning goal, but I would still have chosen Park myself and I expect to see a lot more of her in years to come. Whether she will break through in the England set-up in time for the Euro’s this summer remains to be seen, but her quality is undeniable.

I took 10 days off after this match before heading down to Wolverhampton to see how England’s preparation for those upcoming Euro’s were going as they faced the old enemy Germany in the Arnold Clark cup. the tournament in which they faced top 10 ranked opposition for the first time under Sabrina Weigman. It was set to be a true test of their credentials as challengers in the Summer and I will bring my report on my experiences of that game in next blog.