Although the hosts came out on top by a single goal, the 18-year-old put in a composed and professional display from the heart of defence.
Mace kept Chelsea forward Sam Kerr quiet for the majority of the match, with a perfectly timed sliding challenge thwarting the FA Women’s Super League’s top scorer early in the second half when she was presented with a brief glimpse of the City goal.
And while Taylor was proud of the young defender’s performance, and that of Alex Greenwood alongside her, he insists the best is yet to come.
“She’s a work in progress, playing in a new position and we’ve got high hopes for her,” the City boss reflected.
“The way she handled such a big game at a young age (was impressive), she made a few errors but she did some really good things as well.
“She dealt with one against one defending really well, helped by Alex alongside her, who I thought was excellent today as well.
“The future’s bright for a player like Ruby and she’s got loads more to come.”
It was a frustrating afternoon for City at the Cherry Red Records Stadium, as we fell to our first defeat in ten matches despite enjoying large spells of the second half.
But Taylor has targeted next weekend’s home fixture against Manchester United as an opportunity to put things right at the first time of asking.
He said: “These are big games and I thought we gave a really good account of ourselves.
“It was a great performance, a great atmosphere and a great advert for Women’s football especially. There are plenty of positives to take for us moving forward.
“It’s a big gap (on league leaders Arsenal) and we just need to keep chipping away at it.
“It starts next week, we’re unfortunate not to come away with at least a point today but we’ll attack next week’s game and start to claw back some of the ground.”
