Gareth Taylor happy to see goals shared as Manchester City gain ground on title rivals before clash with Arsenal
GARETH TAYLOR hailed Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw’s “special” header as her tenth WSL goal this term helped Manchester City beat Leicester.
Just as it looked as if the Foxes might dent City’s title hunt, Shaw and Chloe Kelly netted to a 2-0 away victory.
And the encounter saw Leicester goalkeeper Janina Leitzig put in an heroic shift in goal pulling off ten first-half saves.
City chief Taylor said: “We were probably a bit wasteful in the first 20 minutes. The game could have been dead and buried.
“In saying that their goalkeeper was inspired.
!It was going to take something special to beat the goalkeeper and it was a special goal from Bunny Shaw.
“It was a great ball in and a really good header from Bunny.
“If she puts more power into it, she probably misses the target so it was a really class header. Chloe’s (goal) was a great finish as well.”
The result saw Man City go 16 games without a loss with Taylor’s side leapfrogging Arsenal to go third.
They also went a point ahead of the Gunners before their rivals’ Sunday night trip to West Ham.
And their second finish saw Kelly opening her WSL goals account for this season.
Taylor added: “Sixteen games unbeaten with two draws in there is some going.
“I think that’s amazing and you have to give full credit to the players
“With Chloe’s goal, we’re really pleased for her, and we want to win. We don’t really care who scores
“We put a big emphasis on Bunny Shaw this season and she has done amazing and the rest of the players will chip in.”
Before the fixture Leicester had lost their previous three duels with City conceding eight times in their last two league encounters.
But this match was a different story with the hosts coming close to an early lead as Hannah Cain forced a flying sixth-minute save from Ellie Roebuck.
Sterling defensive work from the well-drilled Foxes side kept the scoreline 0-0 in the first spell.
Ashleigh Plumptre, Sophie Howard, Courtney Nevin and Leitzig all impressive at the rear for the hosts.
And Leitzig, on loan from Bayern Munich, broke the record for the number of saves in a WSL match.
Her string of stops included one off her ankle from a close range 15th-minute Shaw effort, as well a stop from a Hemp strike in the 39th minute.
The second spell saw Laura Coombs enter the fray in place of Deyna Castellanos.
And it was Coombs Cross that Shaw guided home with a looping header to break the deadlock in the 60th minute.
The visitors doubled their lead 14 minutes after with Kelly firing home with a powerful left-footed strike.
Cain later prompted an injury time save from Roebuck before the final whistle with Leicester facing Liverpool next Sunday.