The Scotland international headed home the winner in injury time, before Izzy Christiansen bagged her second penalty of the game to seal the victory, as Nick Cushing’s side snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the final 15 minutes.
Lucy Quinn had given the visitors the lead on five minutes with a well-placed 35-yard strike before the hosts rallied late on to turn the game on its head and maintain their 100% start to the season – and Beattie was delighted.
“I’m so proud of the girls,” she declared. “It went right down to the wire but we didn’t give up.
“We kept plugging away and the girls kept going. We’re really happy with the three points.
“The feeling when the whistle goes and you’ve come from 1-0 down and turned it around to get three points is amazing.”
The winner arrived courtesy of a trademark monster throw-in from substitute Megan Campbell.
Beattie rose highest to meet the set-piece, planting it into the top corner.
“Everyone’s saying it happened in slow motion!” she smiled. “I didn’t get that much power on it but I was just so happy to see it hit the back of the net.
“We know we weren’t on par and we’re not happy at all with the way we played but when we won the league last year – even on the days we weren’t on par – we managed to grind out results.
“This team is made of winners and we showed that.
“We have so much depth in this squad and that’s another amazing quality. The quality coming off the bench is unbelievable.
“We can play different XIs every week. That’s what you need to win leagues.”
City have little time to reflect on their comeback with two Continental Tyres Cup clashes this week – Oxford away on Thursday night (7:45pm) and Everton at home on Sunday (6pm – after the men’s game against Arsenal).
Beattie asserts her side are thankful for the quick turnaround, which allows the cup holders the chance to produce an improved performance immediately – in a competition they hold in such high regard.
“We don’t just want to win the league,” she continued. “We want to lift every trophy this year and we’ll do our absolute best to do that.
“We’re not really sure what to expect from Oxford but we’ll be prepared as always and we’ll look to put things right on the training pitch this week. Everybody will be looking at what we can improve on.
“It will be a tough game. They will make life difficult for us. It’s getting harder and harder to win every year with teams getting better and better.
“We’ll recover as best we can and go again on Thursday.
“We’ll do the best we can to get another win and then it’s a double header on Sunday. We love those and we’ll look to go again.”
Tickets for Sunday’s double header are available at tickets.mancity.com or at the Etihad Stadium Ticket Office.
