Ella Toone and Manchester United speechless after WSL derby win over Man City ‘it means a lot’ | Football news

Ella Toone said “it means a lot” after her hat-trick led Manchester United Women to a famous 4-2 win over rivals Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

City were made to pay for some sloppy mistakes in a pulsating derby game, with Toone scoring either side of a Leah Galton strike to put the visitors ahead.

Vivianne Miedema and Rebecca Knaak struck for City to reduce the deficit, before Toone capitalized on another defensive lapse to seal her hat-trick.

“We’re speechless too. It’s a derby, so it means a lot,” said Toone Sky Sports.

“I thought we made a big change and a great performance. I think we deserved it.

“I let the girls know – ‘girls, I’ve never scored in a Manchester derby, I’ve never scored against City’, and for a girl who supports Manchester United, I know what those derbies mean.

“I want to go into every game and do something on the field and make a change for the girls.

“But today I wanted a goal and I managed to score three, so it’s a special day for me and I couldn’t have done it without the players and the staff.

“I’ve been through a lot, and when I got injured it was a blessing in disguise. Looking back now, I needed it, not only physically but mentally. I used my time wisely to get back in shape and stronger, but more importantly, take care of yourself.”

Toone praised United’s spirit after the performance and result saw United leapfrog City into third place in the Women’s Super League table.

“We’re doing well,” Toone said.

“Sometimes people write us off, but we know what kind of team we have. We have personality, we have attitude, we have work speed and we give our best every time we step on the field and we enjoy playing together.

“Today was really special for us. It’s a Manchester derby, we came out fighting, we showed until the end. There were moments in that game when they had a lot of possession and mentally, it’s difficult to keep running and to keep fighting, but we managed we are that.

“I’m proud of the team today, and so was Geyse (who is on personal leave and missed the game).”

Manchester United goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce added: “We’ve got a really tough squad and women who are ready to stick it out and that’s what we certainly saw today, especially Toonie.

“Toonie has just been an absolute inspiration. Watching her from the sidelines, she was the first one on the practice field and the last one to leave. You (Toone) deserved every second of this moment as you tried to come back.”

Skinner: Fearless United played with personality

Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner:

“My enjoyment comes from a team enjoying their football and we gave a really good account of ourselves. I know we’re going to talk about the mistakes Man City made, but we made them make mistakes.

“We’ve had a bit of criticism in the bigger games this season where we’ve been a bit passive, but tonight we were just ‘right, alright, let’s go to Man City’. We forced mistakes and got our rewards tonight.

“It’s three points. It’s a fantastic performance. But for me it’s more important how this young group will grow from it.

“I’ve been here before. Two seasons ago we won at the Emirates. We gave games to teams and our team is new again and young again. They’ve had to learn the environments on the big stage. Tonight is a great learning curve for them.

“I think the thing that outweighs a lack of experience is personality and fearlessness. And I felt like we had that in abundance tonight.

“It’s a big win for our whole club tonight. And we’ll go on to play them again on Wednesday (in the League Cup), which will be interesting.

“We wanted to rest, recover and be ready to play another game against them.”

Taylor: We scored easy goals

Manchester City coach Gareth Taylor:

“Our build-up play is usually a strong part of our game, it’s been that way for many years and it’s going to be that way. It’s the way I like to play because it allows us to come together as a team, but it failed me on a number of occasions tonight.

“When you score goals, especially the one at the beginning of the second half, it killed the momentum because we got it back.

“Between the penalty area we were quite good and created good chances, we had a lot of play. Only at the beginning of the game did we give them too many chances.

“Those are easy goals. Sometimes when you play like that and the decision is wrong… it was really bad for us in that part, which is normally a strong part of our game.

“I can count on the fingers of one hand how many goals we’ve scored playing like that, so it’s frustrating to concede three like that and the fourth was also difficult to concede because it’s a situation we shouldn’t be in.”

Analysis: A city full of mistakes lacks a plan B

Sky Sports’ Laura Hunter:

Is this the moment Manchester United enter the title race? An emphatic derby win will all but make City’s hopes of a second WSL crown all the sweeter.

Gareth Taylor’s team started the day in second and ended it in fourth. The number of mistakes they made were completely uncharacteristic, but equally reflective of Man United’s brash approach.

Fortune favors the brave.

They pressed high from the first minute, forced mistakes and capitalized on City’s every slip.

Marc Skinner’s side suffocated their hosts and again it was City who had 74 percent of the ball. The fact that United scored four goals with such a meager share of possession makes the result even more remarkable.

Too often City relied on their ability to overpower their opponents into submission and in the absence of any plan B, they were defeated by a smarter game plan.