Gareth Taylor says Laura Blindkilde Brown is pushing for a starting spot after grabbing her first City goal.

The youngster joined the Club from fellow Barclays Women’s Super League side Aston Villa in January and opened her account in Blue during our Barclays Women’s Super League win against West Ham United.

The midfielder fired home our fourth of the afternoon at the Joie Stadium having been introduced for the final 30 minutes, with City eventually running out 5-0 winners.

And the boss has been delighted with the impact that he’s seen from Blindkilde Brown as she finds her feet at the Club.

“She’s always confident. One of the reasons I wanted to bring Laura to the Club was for her bravery,” Taylor reflected.

“I didn’t know her, but when I watched her, I saw someone who never hid and always wanted the ball.

“Sometimes you get players who pretend to want the ball but don’t really, but I was really impressed with her bravery.

“For someone who’s quite slight, she’s very active, quick and has the fast twitch when she receives the ball and plays really firm passes.

CITY+ | SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS EXCLUSIVE CONTENT

“She’s got good shooting ability and It was great she got in there and scored a goal. Without the ball she worked tremendously hard for the team as well.

“What I’ve seen over the last month or two is someone who is more settled at the Club, understands the way we want to play and is pushing for a starting place, there’s no doubt.

“She’s enjoying her football, which is really good.”

The boss explained that it was too early to make a proper assessment on Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw’s injury.

After grabbing an early brace at the Joie Stadium to take her tally to 50 WSL goals, the Jamaican was substituted at half-time with a suspected foot injury.

The forward returned to the bench on crutches, but Taylor insisted this was more of a precautionary measure.

He added: “We decided not to take the risk, it was touch and go whether she would come back on to the pitch.

“I don’t know, a foot injury. I’m not too sure. She’s on crutches which looks bad, but most players end up being off loaded in that situation.

“We’ll just have to assess it. If it’s more serious than we anticipate, then we’ll deal with it.

“I thought Chloe came onto the pitch and did really well in that position, put them under a lot of pressure and created good opportunities.

“We’ll deal with it. It’s the same for when Khiara went down, if Katie’s got to come on then she’ll be ready. We’ll find out a little bit more in the next couple days.”