Sunderland AFC Women 1 – 0 Manchester City LFC
Academy of Light, 2pm, 27th March.
The scoreline suggests a tense 90 minutes and in truth it was a game of two halves. The first half saw Sunderland camped in City territory and after the turnaround they upped their tents and again hung out around the City 18 yard area.
Donna Lanaghan produced the one decisive touch as she sped through the City backline, poked the ball passed the onrushing keeper and slotted the ball into the far post on 31 minutes.
Sunderland manager Mick Mulhern was again pleased with his side’s attitude but remained unimpressed with the finishing and paid respect to the saves made by City’s number one: “It was a decent performance and 1-0 doesn’t do it justice really. We created several chances but I thought their goalkeeper was superb. She made some great saves to keep them in it.”
The Black Cats were wasteful in front of goal and failed to kill off their opposition. In fairness, the Manchester midfield did battle hard but they were restricted to only one chance, which came from scrambled corner.
In the other leagues, Chelsea (funded by Chairman Roman Abramovich) look to have secured the Southern Division promotion spot and Arsenal have moved into pole position in the National Division of the FA Women’s Premier League.
Meanwhile, next up for Sunderland is the potential promotion decider with Wolves at the Academy of Light, 3rd April, 2pm kick off.
