City’s best early chances came from a Steph Houghton header and a speculative effort from midfielder Krystle Johnson.
Manchester City 2-0 Liverpool
The FA WSL Continental Tyres Cup
Group Two
Sunday 30 August 2015
Academy Stadium, Manchester
By Feargal Brennan
But the hosts’ attacking persistence paid off on 15 minutes as Nikita Parris seized upon an error from Satara Murray, and was then fouled by the Liverpool defender to win a penalty.
Duggan stepped up to calmly convert from the penalty spot for her ninth goal of the season in all competitions.
Liverpool did enjoy some attacking threat in the first period, with Hannah Dale firing wide before Natasha Dowie was denied by an excellent Lucy Bronze tackle.
The half ended on a muted note following injuries to Bronze and Liverpool’s Becky Easton and the second half started with England striker Duggan being forced off with a suspected injury.
But the hosts didn’t let it affect them and soon doubled their advantage through Christiansen on 71 minutes.
The forward, who scored the only goal as City beat Arsenal in the 2014 WSL Continental Tyres Cup final, capitalised on a defensive mix-up to seal the victory from close range.
Speaking about his side's victory, City manager Nick Cushing said: "The game turned out the way we wanted it to turn out.
"We want to dominate the ball, we want to play an attractive style of football and we haven’t changed that in any of the games we’ve played. We’ve dominated the ball for 90 minutes today, and created some really good opportunities to score and I’m really pleased.
"We’ve seen in the last few games, every team we’ve played be it Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool or Arsenal they’ve all sat with 11 players behind the ball and try to block us as they know we play the best style of football in the League."
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Manchester City (4-1-4-1): Karen Bardsley, Lucy Bronze (Abbie McManus 38), Jennifer Beattie, Steph Houghton, Demi Stokes, Keira Walsh, Krystle Johnson, Jill Scott, Isobel Christiansen, Toni Duggan (Natasha Flint 52), Nikita Parris
Subs not used: Alex Brooks, Emma Lipman, Georgia Broughman, Kathleen Radtke
Liverpool (4-1-4-1): Libby Stout, Ingrid Ryland, Gemma Bonner, Satara Murray, Majumi Pacheco, Becky Easton (Katrin Omarsdottir 40) , Line Smorsgard (Ashley Hodson 69), Hannah Dale (Katie Zelem 60), Lucy Staniforth, Rosie White, Natasha Dowie
Subs not used: Rachel Darbyshire, Matha Harris, Mollie Green
Attendance: 1890
Referee: James Bell
