Manchester United dusted off their goalscoring abilities against rivals Liverpool at Leigh Sports Village, with a comfortable victory sending them third in the table.
After an open first half hour, a quickfire double from Elisabeth Terland and Leah Galton gave Marc Skinner’s side a cushion going into halftime. Dominique Janssen opened her account for the club by adding a third in the 59th minute, before substitute Melvine Malard rounded off the goals ten minutes from time.
The result sees United move to four points behind second-placed Manchester City, while Liverpool sit sixth.
As it happened
The two rivals set a lively tone early, with half-chances at both ends in the first ten minutes and two fouls apiece. Liverpool were hamstrung early on by a yellow card for Jasmine Matthews after the defender brought down United’s winger Geyse.
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Neither side was able to assume control in the opening twenty minutes. Both managers were animated in their technical areas, with United boss Marc Skinner bellowing encouragements to his team to break quickly after gaining possession. United’s most promising passages of play came from quick counters using Geyse’s pace on the wing, but they couldn’t register a shot on target until Grace Clinton’s tame effort in the 16th minute. Five minutes later, Liverpool’s Fuka Nagano came closest yet to opening the scoring when she struck for the bottom left corner, but Phallon Tullis-Joyce got her fingertips to it.
With half an hour played, the match remained open but goalless. Elisabeth Terland spurned United’s best opportunity on 25 minutes when she could only send Geyse’s cross over the bar; the touchline was equally active, with Liverpool boss Matt Beard furiously remonstrating with the fourth official for what he felt should have been a freekick to his team in the buildup.
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United have been criticised for a lack of ruthlessness this season, but found a killer instinct just after the half hour mark. Terland made up for her error with 32 minutes on the clock. With red shirts lined up on the edge of Liverpool’s area the visitors were caught out and though Geyse couldn’t get her shot past Tegan Micah – but the Norwegian striker was there to curl the rebound into the bottom corner. Almost immediately after Liverpool kicked off, Dominique Janssen pounced and looped a long ball over the top to the returning Leah Galton. The United veteran took it in her stride and did well to power her finish high into the net past Micah. It might not have been an entirely comfortable first half – but from three shots on target at the break, they led by two goals.
Liverpool resumed with promising flashes from Olivia Smith and Mia Enderby, but any momentum was killed off by an unlikely goalscorer in the 59th minute. Dominique Janssen had not yet scored for United – but with three goals for former clubs against Liverpool, this would of course be the fixture for her to open her account. She did so in assured style, slotting home from just outside the box after Liverpool failed to fully clear a United corner.
From that point, a United washout seemed more likely than a Liverpool consolation goal and substitute Melvine Malard added a fourth ten minutes from time. Poor marking left her with time and space at the back post to latch onto Janssen’s cross with a composed volley.
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4-0 would have sounded a very harsh result to Liverpool during the first half, but United’s quality in important moments ultimately made the difference and the visitors looked out of ideas after going three behind. Marc Skinner, who has come in for criticism from sections of the fanbase lately, will be pleased to have secured their biggest league win of the season so far and hope to gather momentum against Crystal Palace next weekend.
The lineups
MUN: Tullis-Joyce; Riviere, Le Tissier, Turner, George; Janssen, Clinton, Miyazawa; Geyse, Terland, Galton
LIV: Micah; Fisk, Bonner, Matthews; Nagano, Shaw, Kapocs, Hinds, Holland; Enderby, Smith