City claim deserved WSL victory over Leicester

City fell behind in the first minute when Jessica Sigsworth gave the hosts the lead, but Caroline Weir and Keira Walsh struck back before half-time. 

Lauren Hemp blasted home a third before Laura Coombs rounded off the scoring in the East Midlands to grab a deserved first WSL victory since September. 

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WHAT HAPPENED

Things didn’t initially go as planned for Gareth Taylor‘s side, with Leicester finding themselves ahead inside the first minute when Sigsworth robbed Jill Scott in possession just outside our own area, drove into the box and slotted the ball under Karima Taieb. 

But despite the early setback, City didn’t let our heads drop and launched an assault on the Foxes defence.

Georgia Stanway had a brilliant long-range effort tipped onto the crossbar by Leicester ‘keeper Kirstie Levell inside the seventh minute, before the City no. 10 also saw an effort flash wide of the post as we searched for the equaliser. 

And with 23 minutes gone we found it, as Weir reacted quickest to Demi Stokes‘ deflected strike to thump the ball home and draw us level from close range.

We continued to pile the pressure on the hosts, with Hemp looking particularly dangerous down the left wing. She managed to find Weir with an excellent delivery but the midfielder’s effort was saved. 

Eventually, however, we made our dominance count, taking the lead through a wonderful strike from Walsh, who rifled the ball into the top corner from 25 yards out, giving us the lead going into the break. 

Into the second half, we continued to play on the front foot in search of more goals, with Hemp having an effort from the edge of the area palmed over the bar early on. 

But the City defence still had to ride a period of Leicester pressure, doing well to restrict the hosts to half-chances and prevent them from finding a route back into the game.

A much-needed third would follow, with Hemp getting in behind Leicester’s Georgia Brougham and lashing home a well-deserved goal. 

And we then extended our advantage further when substitute Coombs got in behind in the 83rd minute and slid the ball under Levell, rounding off a well-executed performance at the King Power Stadium. 

HOW WE LINED UP 

There were seven changes from the starting line-up that faced Durham in the Continental Cup in midweek, with only Karima Benameur, Stokes, Jessica Park and Ellen White keeping their places. 

Taylor named a back four of Stanway, Scott and Alex Greenwood filling the centre-back roles with Stokes at left-back.

In midfield, Walsh sat deep with Weir and Filippa Angeldahl providing more of an attacking threat. 

Up front, White was flanked by Hemp on the left and Park down the right.  

CITY XI | Taieb, Stanway, Scott, Greenwood, Stokes, Walsh, Angeldahl, Weir (Coombs 71’), Park (Beckie 81’), Hemp, White (C)

SUBS | Pilling, Raso, Kennedy, Mace, Losada

LEICESTER XI | Levell, Tierney, McManus, Brougham (Howard 34’), Pike, Sigsworth, De Graaf (Flint 61’), Bailey-Gayle (Barker 75’), Plumptre, Purfield, O’Brien (Devlin 61’).

SUBS | Lambourne, Grant, Zajmi, Camwell

WHAT IT MEANS 

The victory sees us climb up to seventh in the Women’s Super League table, just one point behind West Ham United. 

It also puts an end to a difficult stretch of form for Taylor’s side as we pick up our first WSL win since September. 

Stats

● City have won all of our five professional meetings against the Foxes, scoring 21 goals and conceding just twice.

● The visitors have won all 19 of our WSL matches against newly-promoted teams, scoring 72 goals while only conceding six times. The only other sides to have won 100% of their matches against such opposition are Manchester United (5/5) and Aston Villa (1/1).

● Gareth Taylor took charge of his 50th game as City Head Coach.

UP NEXT 

Next up we face a home tie with second-place Chelsea in the Women’s Super League on Sunday 14 November. 

Kick-off at the Academy Stadium will be at 3pm (UK). 

Tickets for all City home games are now on sale.