Shaw nets 17th in dominant City win

LONDON, English (CMC):

Reggae Girl Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw scored a league-leading 17th goal as Manchester City bounced back from their FA Cup heartbreak last week with a dominant 4-1 win over Brighton here Sunday.

Shaw was on target in the 69th minute with City’s third, building on first-half strikes from Lauren Hemp (27th) and Mary Fowler (40th), with Laura Coombs getting her team’s fourth in the 78th.

The victory was City’s 10th straight in the Women’s Super League and kept them at the top on 40 points, only behind title-holders Chelsea on goal difference.

“A good win for us and a good performance,” said City manager Gareth Taylor

“I thought we built up really well and the players executed the game plan really well.”

He added: “It’s just one game at a time. It’s great to be at the top, but it’s really important.

“We were top at the start of the season then all of a sudden within a couple of games we’re six behind. We’ve clawed that back and now we’re level.

“It’s great credit to the team, and now it’s just about one down and six to go for us.”

Hemp opened the scoring at Broadfield Stadium in the southeast after collecting Jess Park’s nicely weighted pass and finishing from close range, and Fowler doubled the lead five minutes before the break, sliding home her finish following a clever pass from Hemp.

Cruising at the break, Shaw put her side firmly in charge by nodding in Yui Hasegawa’s cross at the far post before Coombs added a fourth after being set up by Fowler.