City start pre-season with penalty shoot-out victory over Leicester

Women's Team

City in Australia: Tour Diary – Part One

A tight, even match at HBF Park saw both sides create chances but fail to capitalise on them in the 90 minutes, with new signing Vivianne Miedema coming closest by crashing a header against the crossbar.

In the end, debutant goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita made two saves before Miedema took the decisive spot kick to seal the win and take us to the final of the Perth International Football Cup.

Several City players made their first appearance for the Club as Gareth Taylor used 21 of the 23 players to travel to Perth.

We will now return on Sunday 1 September to face the winner in Thursday’s semi-final between Paris Saint-Germain and West Ham United.

What happened

After almost a week in Australia, Gareth Taylor’s team had largely adjusted to the timezone, while the mild, wet weather was little different to what we had left behind in Manchester.

Both sides wore black armbands in remembrance of Sven-Goran Eriksson, who was manager of the men’s sides at the two clubs during an illustrious career.

Sporting the already iconic away kit, we took control of the game in the early moments as the heavens opened above Perth’s number one rectangular stadium.

Taylor left new assistant Chad Gribble in control of things from the touchline, while he took up an elevated position in the stands for a wider angle on the game.

Leicester’s goalkeeper Janina Leitzig made two impressive saves in the first ten minutes – getting her leg to a cross that deceived everyone before a diving parry that prevented Poppy Pritchard.

There was one brief scare, with Saori Takarada pulling a shot narrowly wide of the post on the rarest of Leicester breaks.

After that, we struggled to turn constant possession into clear cut chances for the remainder of the first period.

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Ayaka Yamashita made her first City appearance as a half-time substitute and was called into action within five minutes, getting down low to gather in a shot from 12 yards out.

The Japanese international was again required moments later, rushing out to smother Jutta Rantala as the Finnish forward looked to finish.

With Leicester the team on top at the start of the second period, Yamashita’s third save came soon afterwards, diving to her left to force a drilled shot to safety.

City stabilised, before a flurry of subs including Australian favourite Mary Fowler, put us back in the ascendancy.

The new wingers, Fowler and Aoba Fujino, gave us a new dimension to our attack with the pair capable of playing on either side.

And Leicester found it hard to contain the pair, with Fowler cutting in from the right and hitting a hard, low effort from 25 yards that stung the palms of Kop in the Leicester goal.

Summer signing Vivianne Miedema played the final 20 minutes and showed flashes of the brilliance that has made her a WSL record goalscorer.

The Dutch forward very nearly proved the difference in the final minutes, heading Fujino’s deep cross against the crossbar.

Miedema was again in the thick of it in added time, nudging the ball past goalkeeper Kop before seemingly being brought down.

However, referee Caitlin Williams disagreed and the match ended goalless.

So, in a kit inspired by one made famous in a penalty shoot-out 25 years ago, another spot kick battle loomed.

That’s where Yamashita stood tall, saving twice to earn the win.

Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw, Fowler, Fujino and Miedema were the successful takers for City.

Teams

CITY XI: Keating (Yamashita 46), Casparij (Lewis 61), Prior (Kennedy 46), Greenwood (c) (Layzell 46), Ouahabi (Thomas 61), Blindkilde Brown (Miedema 71), Park, O’Carroll (Hasegawa 61), Kelly (Fujino 61), Hemp (Fowler 61), Pritchard (Shaw 61)

Subs: Aleixandri, Murphy

LEICESTER XI: Leitzig (c) (Kop 46), Bott, Takarada, Rantala, Mouchon, Ale (Rose 46), Thibaud (Howard 46), Pelgander (Cayman 46), Goodwin (Momiki 46), Mace, Swaby

Subs: Tierney, Petermann

Gareth Taylor reaction

The boss provided his initial reaction to the game pitchside at HBF Park. Taylor said: “I think it’s a good start for us.

“I think there was purpose with a lot of our play with and without the ball. Of course there are some things for us to work on but it’s really difficult. 

“You try to prepare for these games as much as you can by replicating it in training and sometimes when we haven’t quite got enough in the game we tend to start to open our lungs a bit because sometimes it becomes quite physical.

“And obviously with the crowd here it’s a really big occasion for some of our young players. So I’m really pleased. I think the experienced players helped the young ones really well and like I say there are some bits to work on for sure.

“I thought we should have had a penalty at the end in normal time but it [penalty shoot-out] was a good experience for us. 

“I was really confident that Yama [Yamashita] was going to save at least one and she got close to all four penalties.”

What it means

City will face either West Ham United or Paris Saint-Germain in the final of the Perth International Cup on Sunday 1 September.

Our opponents will be decided by the winner of the other semi-final on Thursday.

The final will begin at 10:10 (UK) and is available to watch live on mancity.com and our official app with a CITY+ subscription.