The 32-year-old, who became the first player to win 100 league games back in September, wrote her name into the history books once again in Sunday’s 7-1 thrashing of Brighton and Hove Albion, becoming the first player to tally 150 appearances in the competition.
Fittingly. The captain marked the occasion (which felt on the day of City’s seven-year anniversary) with two goals; the second a sensational free-kick – her specialty.
Reflecting on the victory – our biggest away league triumph – Taylor saluted his skipper’s accomplishment – and her superb set-piece.
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“Firstly, it’s a great achievement,” he praised. “She’s a great ambassador for the game and for City.
“She’s right up there for what she has brought to the game.
“She’s carried the team in good moments and difficult moments. She’s a good personality and great character to have.
“She capped the landmark with two goals and the second one was brilliant. You won’t see many better free-kicks!
“She’s scored a lot of them and that one will be right up there.
“It’s a great achievement and one she fully deserves.”
Houghton was one of five different names on the scoresheet as City produced another ruthless display to net seven goals in successive matches.
Amongst the scorers were Caroline Weir, who bagged a brace, and Chloe Kelly, whose impactful display also yielded a hat-trick of assists!
Taylor was naturally delighted with the contributions across the board; particularly the evident improvement in the team’s decision-making.
“Chloe was great,” he declared. “We’d challenged her to make better decisions in the final third and today, it was really good.
“To create three goals is no mean feat. She’s got the potential to do really well.
“She’s a really good girl to work with. She’s hungry to improve and that’s all you can ask for.
“Some of our goals – the second and fourth in particular – were excellent goals from back to front. The second one especially sticks clearly in the mind.
“It was good build-up play and the decision-making was good. I’m pleased for Caroline bcayse she managed to get some assists (before Christmas) and she got her injury-time goal against Arsenal and she got another two today.
“You’re not always able to achieve a ‘team goal.’ I’d never call a goal an ‘ugly’ goal but some are more attractive! We had some of those.
“It’s taken a bit of time for us to get the build-up play right but I always felt comfortable that when we were arriving in the final third, we were in good control.
“We want to stay in the mix. We know that when it’s crunch time, as long as we’re in contention, teams will take points off one another.
“Games where we play against the top four will be really important – potential title-deciders – but we’ve given ourselves a good chance.
“We have a couple of games coming up now, which we need to make count.”
