Caroline Weir's scored a spectacular goal from 25-years to earn Man City Women victory in the historic Manchester Derby, in front of a record Women's Super League crowd of 31,213 at the Etihad Stadium.
Weir's left-footed strike proved enough to break the deadlock and seal victory in what was a tight affair. Manchester United dominated for long periods in the first half but couldn’t quite find the breakthrough.
United dominated early proceedings and City had goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck to thank for keeping the scores level at the break.
Roebuck pulled off a superb twisting save from to Ross from opening the scoring for United in the 22nd minute when she got on the end of a left-wing cross from Leah Galton. The Man City goalkeeper then pulled off another important stop to again smother Jane Ross’ effort moments before half-time.
It was a different story after the break as City began to dominate. They broke the deadlock three minutes after half-time when Weir let fly with a rising shot from outside the box.
Casey Stoney's Manchester United seemed to visibly wilt as City completely dominated the final half hour of the game, pinning the visitors back in their own half.
This Stoney’s side’s first time in the Women's Super League after comfortably winning the Women's Championship title last season.
Man Utd almost snatched a point in the dying seconds after Jackie Groenen’s effort rebound back off the base of a post and into the arms of Roebuck.
It was a record attendance at the Etihad Stadium where more than 31,000 fans gathers to witness the historic Manchester derby. This dwarfed the previous WSL record of 5,265 at Brighton last season
