Birmingham City Women 2-3 Manchester City Women: Ellen White scores late winner

WSL: Stanway scores stunner as Man City beat Birmingham

By Callum Matthews
BBC Sport

Ellen White's late winner earned Manchester City a valuable three points and denied Birmingham in an entertaining game at St Andrews.

Christie Murray's penalty gave the hosts the lead, but Georgia Stanway's spectacular effort from 25 yards pulled Gareth Taylor's side level.

Captain Louise Quinn again gave Birmingham the lead before the visitors equalised with Lauren Hemp's header.

White met Khadija Shaw's cross with one minute remaining to seal the win.

Manchester City move up to sixth in the Women's Super League, two points off the top three, while Birmingham remain second-bottom, just one point clear of safety.

Although they came away with nothing, there were encouraging signs for Birmingham interim boss Darren Carter in his first match in charge, with his side matching their goal tally in the first eight league games of the season and troubling Manchester City on numerous other occasions.

The visitors started brightly with White hitting the outside of the right post and Caroline Weir skimming an effort wide but found themselves behind when Murray converted from the spot after Hayley Raso had nudged Veatriki Sarri over.

Taylor's side equalised in spectacular fashion when Stanway picked up the ball about 30 yards from goal before driving forward and sending a brilliant strike across Marie Hourihan into the top right-hand corner.

Quinn poked home from close range after Manchester City failed to clear a free-kick from the left, but they equalised five minutes later with Hemp rising highest to head her fourth league goal of the season.

Both sides pressed for a winner in the second half, but there were not many clear-cut opportunities until White got in front of her marker to steer the winner past Hourihan.

The win means Manchester City - who were without England internationals Lucy Bronze, Steph Houghton, Demi Stokes, Keira Walsh, Ellie Roebuck, Chloe Kelly and Esme Morgan - have now won back-to-back league games for the first time this season as they close on a Champions League spot.

After the game, Taylor, who took over in May 2020, said Bronze's return from injury had been delayed because of test and trace guidelines, while Walsh and Canada's Olympic champion Janine Beckie had tested positive for Covid-19.

He said the "deserved" win was a "real credit to everyone involved".

"It was a huge win," he added. "It's really important. We've seen some of the results today and yesterday and you've just got to keep doing what you do.

"We gave them some openings, which was unfortunate and need to be better in that respect. They're an aggressive side but the character we showed to fight back was amazing."

The 48-year-old also said his squad would remain "small" for Wednesday's League Cup game at Leicester and Sunday's WSL game at home to Reading.

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