Women's Super League: Manchester City 5-0 West Ham United
- Published
WSL highlights: Manchester City Women 5-0 West Ham United Women
Georgia Stanway scored twice but was later sent off in a dominant Manchester City victory over West Ham.
Both of England midfielder Stanway's goals came in the first half, and she laid on another for Tessa Wullaert to briefly move City top of the Women's Super League until Chelsea's win later on Sunday.
But Stanway was booked twice in quick succession for late challenges after the break to take some of the gloss off her 100th appearance for the club.
Ellen White had earlier netted her first WSL goal for City, pouncing on a loose ball from a corner for their opener before Stanway's two goals from just inside the box.
Lauren Hemp's first goal of the season from Jill Scott's clever reverse pass made it 4-0 by half-time.
Injury-hit West Ham had few answers to the numerous threats posed by the hosts and Wullaert added a fifth goal soon after the interval.
The scoreline could have been even more emphatic for City but White was denied by the crossbar when she tried to curl in from the edge of the penalty area.
Ellie Roebuck had little to do in the home goal but she reacted smartly to block Leanne Kiernan's effort after she had been played through.
Substitute Wiktoria Kiszkis then struck the base of the post with West Ham's best chance in stoppage time.
City returned to winning ways after defeat by Arsenal last time out and victory enabled them to move above both the Gunners and Chelsea before their games later on Sunday.
West Ham's inconsistent start to the league season continued, with Matt Beard's side losing for the third time in their past four games.
When you score twice but get sent off... Stanway's eventful afternoon
Manchester City striker Georgia Stanway:
"I think we had to be on the front foot today, we had to put out a statement about who we are and what we represent and we pressed from the front.
"Me and Ellen (White) initiated that and we made sure that everybody followed.
"We killed them so many times playing out from the back and we probably could have scored more but we need to make sure that we keep that going and are ruthless in the final third."
West Ham skipper Gilly Flaherty:
"It's really hard to put into words. I'm disappointed. I feel like we went 1-0 down so early on it makes a rod for your own back.
"It's hard coming here anyway let alone going one and two down so early on.
"I think we did better in the second half and we as players need to take ownership and look at ourselves in the mirror. We need to reflect on our performances because today wasn't good enough."