Manchester City's Jill Scott insists that her side are only interested in their own games and performances in their quest for the FA Women’s Super League title, no matter what might be happening elsewhere.
City scored three goals either side of half time at the Academy Stadium to beat Bristol Academy 6-1, a result which condemned the visitors to relegation from FA WSL 1.
Manchester City 6-1 Bristol Academy
FA WSL 1
Academy Stadium
Sunday 27 September 2015
And while it shot the Citizens to the top of the table, and boosted their goal difference above that of title rivals Chelsea, Scott refuses to be distracted.
“We can only control what we can control,” said Scott. “There’s no point wasting energy looking at other teams’ goal difference and what they are all doing.
“We knew that goal difference was something we could control if we put the ball in the back of the net and thankfully we did that.
"The first half performance wasn’t up to our standards. We managed to go in 3-0 up on the back of a performance that wasn’t really ourselves, then we came out second half and stepped things up.
Lucy Bronze celebrates her strike
“I’m not going to watch Chelsea play Liverpool [on Sunday evening]. I like to concentrate on us. If Chelsea slip up then happy days! They have had a great season and so have we.
“We will just do exactly what we always do. We go into every game wanting to win so preparation will stay exactly the same and I think that’s something that this club prides itself on.
“If we were to finish second that would guarantee Champions League football and that’s a massive progression from last season.”
It took Scott nine minutes to open the hosts’ account, slotting home after Natasha Harding’s cushioned header put her through on goal.
The Vixens struggled to find a way past City’s defence, restricted to long-range efforts knowing anything less than a win would condemn them to a last-place finish.
Second-placed City were in a merciless mood, and Scott turned provider for Isobel Christiansen who grabbed her fourth of the season via a deflection to double the advantage on 34 minutes.
Lucy Bronze netted a third four minutes later, before Nikita Parris got in on the act just after half time.
Nikita Parris was also on target for City
Caroline Weir pulled one back, the first goal City have conceded at the Academy Stadium since May, but Christiansen added another City goal from the spot with 15 minutes to go.
Sixteen-year-old Georgia Stanway fired home a sixth to send the Blues’ goal difference ahead of Chelsea’s, and Bristol were well and truly relegated.
But Vixens midfielder Georgie Evans promised that her side would not be giving anything away easily in their last game against Liverpool
“We will prepare the same as always,” said Evans.
“We’ll be in on Monday and every day of the week, training and working hard and make sure we put everything into it in the last game against Liverpool.
“We will keep working hard and enjoy the last game. The mood’s not the best. We said we wanted to go out and put everything into it, and I think we did that but Manchester City are a quality team.
“We needed to demand more from each other, and believe in ourselves that if we do put everything into it we can beat a side like that.”
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Manchester City (4-2-3-1): Karen Bardsley; Lucy Bronze, Steph Houghton, Jennifer Beattie, Demi Stokes; Keira Walsh, Jill Scott; Natasha Harding, Isobel Christiansen, Krystel Johnson; Nikita Parris.
Substitutes: Georgia Stanway for Parris 57, Daphne Corboz on for Harding 61, Abbie McManus for Bronze 82.
Subs not used: Kathleen Radtke, Emma Lipman, Georgia Brougham, Alexandra McIver.
Goals: Scott 9, Christiansen 34, 75pen, Bronze 38, Parris 49, Stanway 78
Substitutes: Hannah Short for Ladd 70, Tatiana Pinto Zelem for Brummel 76, Nadia Lawrence for Evans 88.
Subs not used: Hannah Reid, Evodkia Popadinova, Sharla Passariello.
Goals: Weir 55
Referee: Peter Gooch
