Manchester United Women bounced back from an embarrassing defeat at Liverpool last weekend with a runaway win at Aston Villa on Sunday. Elisabeth Terland bagged a brace in the first half and Grace Clinton scored a chip from miles out before Leah Galton wrapped things up in a 4-0 win at Villa Park.
Marc Skinner set his side up to attack, once against putting Galton and Celin Bizet on the wings with Ella Toone and Hinata Miyazawa rounding out the midfield with Clinton.
Millie Turner celebrated her contract extension with a strong defensive performance. With her usual partners at the back, she helped keep a clean sheet and held Villa to just a handful of chances.
The opening 20 minutes were all United, but the breakthrough came in the 22nd with Terland tapping in a simple pass across the box by Bizet.
Jayde Riviere got the hockey assist on the play, but got the assist on the second goal a few minutes later with a lob onto the head of Terland just outside the six-yard box. The Norwegian striker was clinical, but both balls were put on a plate for her to put the Reds in front on the road.
As the second half drew to a close, United kept pressing for opportunities to score on the break. One such chance came in the final minute for Clinton, who won the ball in midfield and launched a lofty strike with the Villa keeper Sabrina D’Angelo off her line.
The Villa players were calling for Clinton’s initial challenge to be a foul but there was no hearing it from the referee.
United built on their lead in the second half with Galton scoring on a near post run just past the hour mark, but the celebratory mood was dampened a bit by the departure of Bizet. She was the subject of a hard challenge by Danielle Turner, who totally missed the ball and caught Bizet’s leg instead. She escaped with just a yellow card, but Bizet had to be helped off the pitch and into the training room. She was in distress as she left and fans will hope that it won’t be too serious and injury for her.
With the win, United is now level with Arsenal at 39 points, eight points behind runaway league leaders Chelsea. There is a seven-point gap to fourth place, a nice spot considering the difficult schedule to end the season, including a date with fourth-placed City in the FA Cup Semis and the second-to-last week of the WSL season.