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Manchester United Women have beaten Bristol City 2-0 in the league.
Naalsund opened the scoring in the tenth minute as she danced through the Bristol defence and passed it into the bottom corner in almost slow motion.
The goal woke Bristol up and they managed to get beyond the halfway line and launch an attack of their own. It went out for a corner but United’s defence dealt with it well.
United dominated possession in the first half but there was little intensity.
It was an unchanged team from the one that thumped Brighton 4-0 last weekend but they looked completely different.
In the second half, there was a scare for United as Bristol charged forward. It was squared to Hayles at the back post who rattled the woodwork.
A series of Bristol corners were dealt with well, Toone got the second away from danger and unleashed Le Tissier.
As she neared goal she panicked and instead of shooting, backheeled to Toone who was not quite on the same wavelength and the attack fizzled out.
Moments later, Garcia got a shot off and it was just millimetres wide of the top corner.
Geyse was looking a little jet-lagged but was still too much for Bristol to handle and was clattered by Napier who was already on a yellow. She was given her marching orders.
A free kick to United saw the Bristol keeper sit down ‘injured’ as the outfield players ran to the bench, angering the United fans and inspiring a debate about tactical injuries.
With eight minutes of injury time to play, there was time for late drama luckily it went in United’s favour as Naalsund hooked it in the near post following a corner delivered by Katie Zelem.
United had made hard work of it but they got the job done in the end.
Team: Earps, Le Tissier, Blundell, Toone, Malard (Geyse), Zelem, Riviere, Naalsund, Garcia, Turner, Parris (Williams)
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