Manchester United boss Marc Skinner vowed his side will continue to "hunt" down Women's Super League champions Chelsea next season after being pipped to this year's title by the Blues.
Lucia Garcia's 72nd-minute strike helped United yield a 1-0 victory over Liverpool at Prenton Park on Saturday, but Chelsea's comfortable win over bottom-of-the-table Reading saw the Reds miss out on the trophy by just two points. However, it's been a season of massive progress for Skinner's side, who reached the FA Cup final and qualified for next season's Champions League for the first time in the club's history.
"It's hard for me because I want to win the league and I want to win cups but I also have to appreciate how far we've come in such a short amount of time," Skinner said after the game.
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"The only team we've lost to in the league has been Chelsea. We drew against Everton and Manchester City and those are the margins we need to improve but we've won every other game. That's amazing.
"If you'd have said that at the start of year I would have hoped that would have been enough to win the league but it hasn't so we've got to go again next year and be even better."
Reflecting on what United must do next term to close the gap on Chelsea, the Reds boss added: "Chelsea have been there and done it but until you've been there and done it it's hard to actually sense what's on the other side of that. They also have a wealth of funds to fund that and they go and buy the best players. They do it a different way to us.
"It's the experience they've got but we're closing that gap every single day and if you look at the budgets spent by the two clubs and see there's only two points between us - we've got to be even better. If I were them, I would be very, very aware of Manchester United."
Skinner admitted that United need to be "aggressive" in the upcoming transfer window as they bid to bring more world-class players to Leigh Sports Village. But while the Reds will be hopeful that Champions League football will entice some big names to join the club, the future of two of their own star names remains in the balance, with both Ona Batlle and Alessia Russo out of contract this summer.
"The business team are working really hard to make sure [they stay]", Skinner said. "But if that doesn’t happen and they don’t stay here, then we’ll go into the market to recruit, because we’ll have to.
"Our team is not about any one player. It’s bigger than anybody involved in the club. I hope they stay, but if I was them, I don’t think I’d want to leave from this team, in my opinion, because of what we’re achieving and what we’re doing."
And while the United boss concedes he and his players are disappointed to finish the campaign without any silverware, he is confident the experience they have gained this term will only serve to make them even stronger next season.
"The experience we've had this year - the good, the bad and ugly. It will hurt that we're two points off and we've not won the league even though we've broken our own points tally record but I think next year it will change again.
"Congratulations to Emma [Hayes] but this team is coming and hunting and [Chelsea] will have to stay on top of their game as well."
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