Manchester United won their first Derby away at Manchester City, after a nightmare first half from the Citizens gifted the Red Devils a 3-0 lead after just 36 minutes. A hat-trick from Ella Toone and a controversial goal from Leah Galton sealed the win, as Man United took advantage of some horrendous errors at the back from Khiara Keating and the defensive collective.
All signs going into this fixture pointed to a routine Manchester City win. After all, they had won all but one of their previous Manchester Derbies, their sole defeat coming in 2023, when Lucia García’s injury time winner against 10-player Man City all but consigned them to fourth place that season. And they were blessed with the return of Vivianne Miedema, making her first WSL start since undergoing knee surgery in October.
But Manchester United were looking to close the gap on their neighbours, with this match offering them the opportunity to get themselves firmly into European contention at the expense of their local rivals. Like Manchester City, they too could boast a returning star from injury, with Ella Toone restored to the starting line-up in the WSL after recovering from the calf injury she suffered in November.
The Lineups
MCI: Keating; Ouhabi, Alexandri, Knaak, Casparij; Roord, Hasegawa, Park; Fujino, Miedema, Fowler
MUN: Tullis Joyce; George, Turner, Le Tissier, Riviere; Janssen, Miyazawa, Toone; Galton, Bizet, Terland
The Action
Within the first minute, there was a hint of the carnage that was about to unfold. Man City lost the ball on the edge of their own box, but Elisabeth Terland could only shoot wide. Just seconds later, Toone was found free in the box, yet could only shoot straight at Keating. Her blushes were spared by the offside flag.
By contrast, Man City were a non-entity- their slow, sluggish possession lacking the penetration or imagination required to break through the Man United rearguard. The side’s lack of energy made themselves too easy to play through. Kerstin Casparij looked as though she was running through treacle based on the ease of which Leah Galton breezed past her, but luckily for Casparij, Galton hit her effort into the side netting.
Yet despite all the warning signs, Man City refused to wake up and realise they were in the middle of a football match. The Cityzens paid the ultimate price straight from the resulting goal kick. Man United won the initial header, flicked the ball on again, and again, and suddenly Toone was clean through, onside, and dinking the ball over Keating and into the net. Man City lost every physical contest and left the door wide open for Toone to score.
City’s defending from a corner seven minutes later left a lot to be desired. Aleixandri contrived to deflect the ball back into the 6-yard box instead of clearing the danger, Le Tissier nudged it on, and Galton was completely isolated on the goal line to spin and smash the ball into the net. Replays showed Galton was almost certainly offside, but it was missed by the officials.
It got worse, much worse. Man City’s car crash of a first half hit its apex with a ghastly 60 seconds that Keating will not want to watch back. First, her poor clearance was intercepted by Hinata Miyazawa, who fed the ball straight to Terland, who could only blaze over. Having escaped judgment for her error, Keating contrived to repeat the same mistaker agin, badly under-cooking her pass out to Leila Ouahabi. Like a lion pouncing upon a helpless gazelle, Terland raced in to steal the ball off the Spaniard’s toes and nudge it on to Toone to slot the ball into the vacant net.
For all of Man City’s defensive atrocities, they still went into the break within a shout of making an unlikely comeback. With just 5 minutes of the half to play, Man United decided it was their turn to switch off at the back, as Millie Turner was beaten far too easily by Miedema to meet Mary Fowler’s pinpoint cross. One goal became two deep into injury time, when Rebecca Knaak met Fowler’s corner with a looping header that flew beyond the reach of Phallon Tullis-Joyce.
Having got the score back to 2-3, Man City looked to be the side going into the second half in the ascendency, that this was a disaster they could still recover from. However, no-one had told this to Keating, who compounded her derby nightmare in the first half with another ghastly error. Nine seconds from their own kick-off, Keating was too slow to clear her lines, her clearance charged down by Terland, gifting Toone the simplest of tasks of completing the easiest hat-trick of her career.
There were still 45 minutes to play, but the game was almost up. Man United sat in and posed the question to Man City, who did not have the answer. Fowler and Miedema both shot straight at Tullis-Joyce, Jill Roord headed wide, Fowler had a flicked effort that was well saved. But in truth, these were flashing, fleeting, moments. There was no grand siege, no intense pressure on the Man United defence to try to save the game. Man City passed and played without any of the intensity or desperation their situation necessitated, much like they had done for most of the first half.
The final whistle condemned the home side to a third defeat of the season, and saw their local rivals leap frog them into third place, tied with second-placed Arsenal on goal difference. There was much for the Man United players to celebrate, a first derby win on enemy territory, and a deserved one at that. For Man City, it was a wretched display of inept defending and toothless attacking, a toxic combination which has led to them falling to nine points off leaders Chelsea, all but ending their title challenge.
The Halfway Line Player of the Match – Ella Toone
Who else? Back from injury, and now back in form, Ella Toone made the Manchester Derby her own, ruthlessly punishing Manchester City’s defensive errors with a hat-trick and ensuring Manchester United won their first Derby at the Etihad Stadium.
