Shaw brace puts Man City top of WSL

LONDON (CMC):

A BRACE from Jamaica sharpshooter Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw carried Manchester City to the top of the Women’s Super League (WSL) table and equalled the longest winning run across a single season with a 4-1 win against hosts Liverpool yesterday.

The 27-year-old was one of three scorers in a spell of eight minutes in the first half at Prenton Park that practically enabled City to seal their 12th win in a row, following up with another early in the second half.

Shaw rifled a devastating effort into the top corner from distance to give City their third goal, and she added a fourth early in the second half with a powerful header.

“We said we wanted to go into the international break being top of the league and put on pressure,” Shaw told Sky Sports.

“We said, ‘let them chase us’. Overall, it was a great performance.”

With defending champions Chelsea and fellow title rivals Arsenal out of action this weekend because they are facing each other in the League Cup final on Sunday, the result meant that City are now three points clear at the WSL summit.

“It was very good,” Man City manager Gareth Taylor told Sky Sports.

“At times, some phenomenal play from us. I thought we were excellent in how we managed the game. We kept the passes short when we needed to and got in behind. Some fabulous goals.

“I know Bunny’s was an unbelievable strike and there were some good goals. The second goal was magic for us in terms of everything we try to do and to finish it off really well was good by Jess.

“It’s a really good result from us. This is a tough place to come. We silenced the crowd, and the crowd get behind them as well, so happy to send ours off home with this lead we have at the top of the league, which is great.”

City were kept penned inside their own half for the first 15 minutes of the match without Liverpool creating any chances of note.

But the visitors sprang to life on the counter down the right, with Jess Park eventually forcing Liverpool goalkeeper Rachel Laws into a save from distance.

Laws failed to hold on to the ball, and Lauren Hemp pounced on the loose ball, skipped away from a challenge, and fired into the bottom corner in the 16th minute.

Park made it 2-0 six minutes later when she rounded off an exquisite team move. After picking up a pass from Mary Fowler, she jinked her way through a series of challenges before firing across the goal and into the net off the post.

Shaw delivered the decisive blow two minutes later when she flicked the ball around defender Gemma Bonner and scored one of the most spectacular of her record 70 City goals so far, launching a 25-yard drive into the top right corner of the Liverpool net.

The Jamaican striker ended any hopes of Liverpool mounting a comeback six minutes after the break when she rose highest at the back post to head in a corner kick from Fowler for her 19th goal of the league campaign this term.

Shaw had a couple more chances in the final 20 minutes of the match, but Laws broke up an effort, and she was flagged for off-side after she finished off a through ball from Laura Blindkilde-Brown.

Liverpool grabbed a consolation goal in the 84th minute when a rasping drive from Taylor Hinds from 30 yards out forced City netminder Khiara Keating to tip the ball on to the crossbar before it then ricocheted off her and into the net for an own goal.