Casey Stoney said she cannot wait to test her team against one of the elite after her Manchester United side passed their latest test against Women’s Super League opposition, an own goal and a Jess Sigsworth strike earning them victory over West Ham in their Continental League Cup quarter-final.
With Arsenal and Chelsea beating Birmingham and Reading respectively, and Manchester City playing Brighton in the final last-eight tie on Thursday night, United will get their first taste of life at the top of the league they are aiming to be in next season.
Stoney’s side beat London Bees 9-0 in the Championship on Sunday, the heavy wins a regular feature of their season, but the United manager said that brings its own challenges. “It is difficult when you are winning games by the margins we are to keep the intensity high,” she said. “And that’s why we’re relentless with our standards.”
West Ham, fielding the same XI that took the lead before losing 4-2 to Arsenal on Sunday, switched to a back three for the trip to Leigh, with Claire Rafferty and Ria Percival pushed further forward. However the reshaped side struggled to have an impact in the first half. Their manager, Matt Beard, said the changes were forced by trying to work around injuries.
“We’ve been doing well with a 4-3-3 but we had too many players not in their natural positions so we changed it,” he said. “I’ve got to take responsibility for that. We’re trying to get the best available players in their best positions but it’s backfired on me tonight.”
The hosts started on the front foot and with Kirsty Smith, Alex Greenwood and the brilliant 17-year-old Lauren James linking well on the left it was not surprising the breakthrough came from there. James raced down the wing and sent in a dangerous cross and, in the scramble to get there ahead of Jess Sigsworth, Kate Longhurst stuck out a leg and poked the ball into her own net.
Jane Ross, who scored twice on Sunday, was then brilliantly thwarted by Siobhan Chamberlain from six yards, leaving Stoney full of praise for her keeper. “Siobhan makes a massive save at 1-0,” she said. “If we go in 1-1 then it’s a different game and it mentally tests us because we’ve not been behind or level much. We switched off a little and she came alive, that’s why I signed her, she knows how to keep herself in the game.”
Not long after the restart Beard, had his head in his hands. A goal-kick from Becky Spencer was knocked down for Longhurst who rattled the post with a half-volley from 30 yards.
West Ham were left ruing their luck minutes later when Sigsworth smashed the ball into the corner after the visitors were dispossessed in the final third. Beard was fuming at the lack of a free-kick in the buildup.
“I’ve been in to see them about the second goal,” he said. “They say it was shoulder to shoulder but Longhurst has a mark on her back. At the end of the day he’s given it and we have to recover as a team on the pitch and we didn’t do that.”
United continued to look the more dangerous side but Percival smacked an effort against the foot of the post from distance as West Ham mounted a late push.
“They’re a WSL team. Every player on that pitch has been playing for WSL teams,” said Beard. “They made the decision to go into the Championship and it’s been a good decision for them. I watched their London Bees game and the fitness levels between the two teams was night and day and it’s been like that most of the season.”
United go into the pot for the semi-final, just five months into their first season. “There’s no easy team,” said Stoney. “We won’t be expected to win against any of them but what a challenge for these players. I can’t wait. It will give us a true barometer of where we are.”
