Lucia Garcia and Hannah Blundell scored their first Manchester United goals in the 2-0 Barclays Women's Super League win over West Ham at the Chigwell Construction Stadium.
Spanish forward Garcia netted 12 times for Athletic Bilbao last season and got her Red Devils account up and running with a confident finish early in the second half. Blundell doubled the visitors’ advantage soon after, but West Ham’s Lucy Parker thought she’d set up a grandstand finish.
Her smart volley was ruled offside after a considerable delay and Marc Skinner’s United went on to continue their perfect start to the season. The visitors started like a team determined to continue their fast start to the campaign, last season’s top scorer Alessia Russo seeing her downward header blocked on the line in the sixth minute.
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Ella Toone was a constant threat in the pocket behind Russo, and her superb first-time cushioned volley put Leah Galton through to find the corner of the net, but the winger had strayed marginally offside. West Ham slowly established a foothold, posing an entirely credible threat on the break, even if they struggled at first to test Mary Earps in the Manchester United goal.
Paul Konchesky’s summer signing from Bayern Munich, Viviane Asseyi, came the closest with a hooked volley cleared off the line after some good work by fellow new recruit Risa Shimizu. The away side’s momentum had faltered but they would have one last golden chance before the break, Millie Turner heading fractionally wide from six yards out on the stroke of half-time.
The breakthrough came in the 50 th minute, Garcia showing impeccable composure to round Mackenzie Arnold and slot home from a tight angle. Less than five minutes later and it was two, Spanish full-back Ona Batlle pulling back for Blundell to stroke the ball into the bottom corner form the edge of the box.
The second goal seemed to snap the hosts awake, as Asseyi showed great strength to hold off Turner and flash a shot just wide. And in the 66 th minute, West Ham thought they’d grabbed one back.
Centre-half Parker reacted instinctively to turn a deflected shot into the net to the delight of the home fans. But after a lengthy discussion with her assistant referee, Emily Heaslip ruled the goal out for off-side.
The incident only seemed to add impetus to the visitors’ attack, with Arnold forced to tip over a fizzing Katie Zelem effort, just after surviving a chaotic goalmouth scramble in the 80 th minute. Earps remained untroubled in the late stages and recorded her second clean sheet of the season, after last weekend’s 4-0 hammering of Reading.
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