Khadija Shaw earns Man City narrow victory over Brighton in WSL

Manchester City picked up their first victory of the Women’s Super League season with a 1-0 win over Brighton.

Khadija Shaw scored her first league goal of the season in the 44th minute and City, who drew with Arsenal last weekend, dominated the second half but were unable to add to their tally.

Gareth Taylor’s side had a quick turnaround after Thursday’s second leg of their 8-0 Champions League qualifying win over Paris FC, but Alex Greenwood recovered from a knock to take her place in defence.

Brighton were shock winners at the Joie Stadium last season and arrived in Manchester high on confidence after a 4-0 win over Everton last weekend and they kept City very quiet in the opening half-an-hour.

Shaw had two half-chances, shooting wide from one and failing to get enough on a header from the other, while Vivianne Miedema then drew a straightforward save from Sophie Baggaley.

The visitors had some promising moments of their own in attack, most involving Fran Kirby, who hit a powerful shot from outside the box that was straight at Ayaka Yamashita.

The game opened up in the final five minutes of the opening half and Shaw would have given City the lead after a jinking run into the box but for a fine block from Maria Thorisdottir, with Jess Park firing over on the follow-up.

At the other end, Kirby’s shot from a tight angle was well saved by Yamashita before Kiko Seike’s effort was blocked, but City broke away and Kerstin Casparij’s cross from the left was expertly buried by Shaw.

City came out strongly at the start of the second half and Brighton nearly paid for sloppy moments as they tried to play out from the back, with first Lauren Hemp shooting wide when she should have scored then Shaw being denied by another excellent block, this time from Guro Bergsvand.

Another let-off for Brighton saw Shaw fail to connect when free in the box, but it seemed inevitable a second goal would arrive for City such was their dominance.

Shaw then picked up a knock in heading a Hemp cross over and, although initially able to continue, was soon replaced by Mary Fowler.

The biggest cheer of the day came in the 80th minute when Jill Roord, who suffered cruciate ligament damage in January, made her return in place of Miedema.

Park and Hemp were both denied by Baggaley as City continued to press for a second, but Brighton ultimately managed to keep it to one.