London City Lionesses fall short to Manchester City after a statement performance from the hosts but just falling short in the last 10 minutes in the Women’s Super League with the game ending 1-2.
Bonny Shaw snatched all three points after a late goal in the 86th minute. The Jamaican was the liveliest in the box, after a scrappy patch of defending, and smashed the ball into the back of the net for her 13th goal of the season.
Nicoli showed the difference of quality to kick-start the game off, with the first clear chance and quality of the game happening in the 11th minute, resulting in the first goal of the match. The Brazilian slotted her shot past the goalkeeper in a 1v1 position making it 0-1.
We then had to wait until the 61st minute to see the responsive goal from Godfrey, after a statement second-half from the hosts. The winger came up with the goods for London City lionesses with pure solo brilliance. A couple of step-overs and a wicked right footed shot met the roof of the net, giving her side the leveller.
Turning back to the rest of the game, the first part fell into a bit of a rhythm, after a very strong start from London City keeping the visitors well at arm’s length. The League leaders found it hard to break down London City’s backline.
After a long period of not seeing the ball, but defending it strongly, the Lionesses broke in the 28th minute, with the biggest chance of the game, for them, placed in Isobel Goodwin’s hands. The English striker ran 1v1 and saw her shot pushed straight onto the post by Ayaka Yamashita, with what was a massive opportunity to make the game 1-1.
To finish the first half off in dramatic style, Goodwin smashed the bar with a dominant header, after a beautiful cross from Jana Fernandez caused chaos. Eder Maestre would have certainly been happy with the performance from his side, moving onto the second half.
The Lionesses started extremely strongly after the restart, with intricate passes and cute passages of play resulting in a huge chance for the former City player Kosovare Asllani. The Swede met a pulled-back cross but could not keep the shot down and below the bar, keeping the game 0-1 at this point.
Manchester City however had to dig deep and grind out a win, after an awkward game played by London City Lionesses. The away side had scored the most goals in the last 15-minutes of the game this season with another one added today.
The game ended 2-1.