Manchester City kept their Champions League qualification hopes alive with a hard-earned win at Leicester.
Jess Park scored the only goal as Manchester City kept their Champions League qualification hopes alive in a hard-earned win at Leicester.
The win moved Nick Cushing’s side four points behind third-placed Manchester United, who will face leaders Chelsea on Wednesday before next weekend’s Manchester derby.
Park’s 70th minutes stunner seals the win
Up until Park broke the deadlock with 20 minutes left, the Foxes were hardly troubled by City, who had more at stake in the contest than the hosts.
Right-back Kerstin Casparij dragged a shot wide from a promising position early on before midfielder Laura Coombs’ strike from 25 yards goes wide off the post.
Lily Murphy also had a shot miss Janina Leitzig’s goal by inches as the first-half ended goalless, with Cushing’s side needing improvements in the second period. Instead, it was goalkeeper Khiara Keating who had to bail out the visitors by denying Hannah Cain in a one-on-one situation. But City finally broke through when Lauren Hemp — who was making her first appearance since 8 November after recovering from a knee injury — delivered a low cross teething Park who arrived unmarked to breach Leitzig’s goal.
“We spoke about finding a way and we have to execute better. Small things matter, but I’m proud we found a way.” Cushing said about the difficult but ultimately rewarding outing at Leicester.
“Brighton was the same and Leicester, but we’ve found a way to make sure we’re still mathematically in the Champions League run.”
With the latest defeat, Leicester are second from bottom of the relegation zone and level on 16 points with Villa.
“It was great to know that we are safe so early. We wanted to focus on ourselves today and it doesn’t change the objectives we have for the season, which is to count the points at the end of the season,” said Foxes boss Amandine Miquel.
“We still have two games to go and we have to push as hard as we can to do better in the last two games.”
City’s hopes hang in the balance
Though City’s narrow win at Leicester kept their hopes of European qualification alive with two games at hand, their fate could be sealed before their next kick-off.
If United, in third, do manage to inflict a first league defeat of the season on champions-elect Chelsea in midweek, it will be their local rivals who secure a top-three finish and European football, ending City’s hopes. And that would be a bitter blow for City, who only missed out on last season’s WSL title to Chelsea by goal difference under Gareth Taylor but have since endured a dismissal run in form.
Nick Cushing’s team have suffered a League Cup final defeat to Chelsea, a Champions League quarter-final exit and an FA Cup semi-final loss to United this term.
However, should United lose to the Blues, it will set up a tantalising derby between the two Manchester clubs at Old Trafford, where the visitors could cut the gap to third to one point heading into the final weekend.
“It’s massive. It’s a 50:50 game if Chelsea win on Wednesday,” Cushing said. “It’ll be tough, but we can make it possible by winning games. I was disappointed we didn’t get the three points against Everton, but it is what it is. We have to prepare for a difficult United game next week.”
City finish their campaign against relegated Palace while United are up against second-placed Arsenal on 10 May.
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