Manchester City Women 3, Birmingham City Ladies 1
Manchester City Women overcame an early setback to beat Birmingham City Ladies after a freak early goal scored by Lucy Quinn.
Izzy Christiansen scored two penalties either side of a Jen Beattie header as City came to life in the last 20 minutes of this game to beat a well organised Birmingham City side with the winning goals coming in added time.
City equalised late in the game through an Izzy Christiansen penalty and Birmingham were reduced to ten players after captain Kerys Harrop was sent off for kicking out at substitute Georgia Stanway before Megan Campbell’s long throw was met by Jen Beattie to put City into the lead.
Christiansen then slotted a final minute penalty to seal victory as the Blues produced a rousing finale.
City had vanquished their Birmingham City counterparts to land the FA Women’s Cup in the summer but they were stunned early in this game by Quinn’s 6th minute looping effort, after she intercepted Steph Houghton’s poor clearance, that Ellie Roebuck, with the sun in her eyes, saw late and couldn’t claw away from goal.
Without the direct running of Lucy Bronze, City lacked the imagination and dynamism to disrupt the Birmingham press despite the best efforts of Mel Lawley to provide width down the right.
City had already had early warning from their visitors when Jess Carter found Rachel Williams who could only hit the shot wide.
Birmingham’s players were upsetting their hosts with some high tempo pressing but City were still able to craft attacks, with Mel Lawley’s cross headed onto the roof of the new by Jane Ross as City tried to overcome a sluggish start.
Both sets of players had their problems with the well watered pitch, the slippery conditions unhelpful for building up attacks.
City were having a tough time trying to break down the Birmingham City defence, being reduced to a chipped goal attempt by Houghton from Izzy Christiansen’s corner which turned out to be an easy catch for Ann-Katrin Berger towards the end of the first period.
And they remained slow to close down their visitors when they ventured forward, particularly during a purple patch for them midway through the first half.
It was Birmingham who bossed the early moments in the second half, with Quinn and Charlie Wellings with half chances.
City finally properly tested Berger in the Birmingham goal after nearly an hour but Christiansen’s shot was an easy one for her to handle while Lawley’s deflected cross a little later was also collected by Berger.
Jill Scott screwed a chance wide but there was late drama when Paige Williams was harshly penalised for tripping Nikita Parris in the penalty area with 14 minutes to go.
Christiansen levelled the scores with the resulting spot kick but tempers boiled over minutes later when Birmingham captain Kerys Harrop was given a straight red card in the 79th minute for kicking out at Georgia Stanway.
City finally roused themselves and camped out in the Birmingham half to seek out an unlikely winner.
There was a clash of heads as Houghton went up for a header with Berger which delayed matters and Jennifer Beattie popped up in the first minute of seven added minutes of injury time after a Megan Campbell long throw.
The drama was not over as Berger brought down Stanway as she rounded her on a break after being put through by Abbie McManus to concede another penalty which Christiansen scored to finally kill off the Birmingham resistance in the 98th minute.