Manchester City Women 2, St Polten Women 0
Lily Murphy and Kerstin Caparij scored their first goals for Manchester City as they beat a stubborn St Polten side in the Champions League.
City, who were without striker Khadija “Bunny” Shaw and lost captain Alex Greenwood to a nasty looking injury in the first half, made light of their first half struggles to give themselves a fighting chance to top their Champions League group with their second half goals.
Without the incisiveness of Khadija “Bunny” Shaw they could not find many opportunities against St Polten’s defence in the first half.
After 28 minutes of sterile dominance by City, they suffered an injury blow after captain Alex Greenwood was stretchered off after a tackle on Melanie Brunnthaler.
Greenwood knew something was wrong straight away after seeming to twist her knee after tackling the St Polten player and she was replaced by Laia Aleixandri.
City scored twice in the second half to make the tie safe though and Aoba Fujino laid on both goals from the right flank, first setting up Lily Murphy, who was making her first start for the club, and then playing a similar ball in for Casparij who had cut inside.
St Polten had no answers to the double strike and City will happily go to Barcelona next week with a chance to top the group against the European Champions.
PLAYER RATINGS – Manchester City Women 2, St Polten Women 0
Ayaka Yamashita: 6. Couple of testing moments as she had to come out of her goal to make clearances.
Kerstin Casparij: 8. Played high up on the right wing and headed wide with the goal at her mercy. Scored City’s second goal with a great finish – her first goal for City.
Alanna Kennedy: 7. Found it easy to pick off St Polten attacks.
Alex Greenwood: 6. Great anticipation to intercept the ball to create a chance for City in opening minutes. Suffered injury while tackling Melanie Brunnthaler.
Leila Ouahabi: 7. Comfortable and involved in attacks. Tried an audacious chip.
Yui Hasegawa: 8. Influential in midfield again, mopped up plenty of attempts to attack by St Polten and started the build up. Created a great chance for Lily Murphy who had a great chance to score.
Jess Park: 7. The wild card in midfield. Sat deeper at times where she was less effective. More adventurous after City had the lead and saw a long range effort go wide.
Laura Blinkilde Brown: 7. Showed plenty of good movement, always looking to create chances and looked after the ball well.
Aoba Fujino: 8. So hardworking on the right flank. Showed her quality with a great cross to set up Lily Murphy for her first goal and she then set up Kerstin Caparij. Brought down in injury time when clean through on goal – no penalty as she spurned the chance to make it 3-0.
Lily Murphy: 8. Played left wing and looked exciting, her team mates ensured she saw a lot of the ball. Missed a great chance to score from Mary Fowler’s free kick but drilled home her first goal in the second half after meeting Aoba Fujino’s cross. Shot wide with a couple of chances later and blazed a late chance over the bar.
Mary Fowler: 7. Dropped deep to help with the build up and helped defensively in the box, heading away a Maria Mikolajova corner. Great free kick at the end of the first half deserved a finish from Lily Murphy. Had an effort cleared off the line and went close in the second half too.
Laia Aleixandri (on for Alex Greenwood, 32): 7. Given the captain’s armband after she came on, little to trouble her so she could push up the pitch too.
Gracie Prior (on for Leila Ouahabi, 77): No time to mark.
Codie Thomas (on for Kerstin Casparij, 77): No time to mark.
TEAM NEWS – Manchester City Women 2, St Polten Women 0
Khadija “Bunny” Shaw was not included in the matchday squad for a Champions League game with little jeopardy attached, and the bench was a little light on experienced players going into the game.
18-year-old Lily Murphy made her full debut on the left wing.
GOALS – Manchester City Women 2, St Polten Women 0
Man City Women 1, St Polten Women 0: 55. Lily Murphy drilled home the opening goal – her first for City – after a quick cross from the right from Aoba Fujino.
Man City Women 2, St Polten Women 0: 66. Kerstin Caparij smashed home the second goal from close range after she was set up by Aoba Fujino.
MATCH STATS – Manchester City Women 2, St Polten Women 0
Man City Women: Yamashita, Casparij (Thomas 77), Kennedy, Greenwood (C) (Aleixandri 32), Ouahabi (Prior 77), Hasegawa, Park, Blinkilde Brown, Fujino, Murphy, Fowler
Man City Women Subs not used: Keating, Roord, O’Carroll
Goals: Murphy 55; Casparij 66
St Polten Women: Schluter, Mattner (Schumacher 72), Johanning, Balog, Touon, D’Angelo, K Dubkova (Madl 46), Hillebrand (Meyer 72), Mikolajova (C)., Brunnthaler (Glibo 79), Melike Pekel (Zver 60)
St Polten Women Subs not used: Sieger, Abiral
Referee: Sandra Bastos (Portugal)