An excellent first-half performance by Manchester United and a late burst earned a 5-0 win over West Ham in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

The victory, achieved in torrential rain at Leigh Sports Village, was due to the work put in during an opening 45 minutes in which they blew their visitors away.

Goals by Geyse, Millie Turner and Nikita Parris ensured United were comfortable at half-time and despite a much better showing by West Ham after the break, a fourth from Lucia Garcia two minutes from time and another in the 90th minute by fellow substitute Melvine Malard gave the scoreline a more realistic feel.

From the first minute United dominated their visitors with the midfield trio of Ella Toone, captain Katie Zelem and Hinata Miyazawa controlling the flow of the game.

It only took three minutes for United to take the lead when a shot by Miyazawa was blocked but as the ball looped up, Brazilian striker Geyse nipped in to head over West Ham keeper Mackenzie Arnold.

Geyse was on a different level during the opening exchanges with seemingly another gear to the West Ham defence.

She also benefitted from the combination down the United left of Toone, left-back Hannah Blundell and forward Leah Gorton. On a number of occasions they set Geyse free in space andt the only surprise was that it did not lead to more goals.

It took until the 42nd minute for United to double their lead and it came through the unlikely source of centre-half Turner, who ran clear to get on the end of Galton’s through-ball and curl a lovely finish over Arnold.

With 12 minutes of added time due to a nasty clash of heads between Zelem and West Ham striker Viviane Asseyi it always was possible that United would make it three and they duly did as Parris finished well after a clever pass by Toone.

West Ham were hampered by making two enforced changes – Asseyi and Honoka Hayashi replaced by Mel Filis and Emma Harries – but at times they could not get near the home side.

The Hammers came out more aggressive in the second half, with Kirsty Smith unlucky with a shot that whistled across United keeper Mary Earps’ goal.

And Smith had claims for a penalty when it looked like Jayde Riviere had caught her with her studs. Another penalty claim for handball also went unanswered as West Ham looked to pull one back.

However, the introduction of Malard, Garcia and Rachel Williams to give United a fresh front three gave Marc Skinner’s team an added boost in the closing minutes with two further goals.