Manchester City’s defensive strength is the key to their unbeaten start to the season and progression in the SSE Women’s FA Cup, according to defender Abbie McManus.
McManus and her team-mates kept a fourth clean sheet in a row as goals from Nikita Parris and Jane Ross helped City ease past Sporting Club Albion and into the semi-final.
The defender is the only City player left from the side that beat Albion to win promotion to the National Division in 2012 and she enjoyed the rematch.
Man City 2-0 Sporting Club Albion
SSE Women's FA Cup
Quarter Final
Sunday 3 April
Academy Stadium, Manchester
by Colin Henrys
She said: “It’s good to have kept the clean sheets. Considering we’ve got injured players in midfield, and players playing in new positions, it’s great for us as a club.
“We changed goalkeepers for this game too, so both have a clean sheet under their belts. It’s good for us as a back four, though, that we’ve played as the same back four for four games in a row, and kept the four clean sheets – hopefully I’ll have kept my place for the next one now.
“It’s great to play old clubs who we met years ago, and to see where women’s football is going – looking at our display against their display.
“We’re here to win trophies and there’s a trophy on the line here. We’re just glad we’re in the hat and whoever we get we’ll put our game plan into action against them.”
Despite the loss visiting Albion midfielder Leigh Dugmore was pleased with her side’s performance and hopes it will lead to further challenges against top sides.
She said: “I’m still buzzing. To only lose 2-0 to a Women’s Super League 1 team like Manchester City – we can’t really be happier with our performance after that.
“You can't go into a game like this and have fear. If you have fear in a game like this, they’re just going to make you look stupid. You have to get stuck in and make the most of it and I think we did.
“Even though we lost, to have played against a team of such quality I’m still really happy - I'm still buzzing about it.
“It's hard to say how we will kick on from this. We should be proud of ourselves, that’s all I can say.
“It’s something that we’d want on a regular basis, of course, so we know we have to work hard now to get to this level.”
This year’s Final takes place at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 14 May and thanks to The FA's partnership with SSE, all children will be able to attend for free.
Adult tickets are priced £15 and group bookings and charter standard discounts are also available.
Tickets for The Final are on sale now via TheFA.com/Tickets or by calling 0844 826 2010.
Manchester City (4-2-3-1): Marie Hourihan, Lucy Bronze, Abbie McManus, Steph Houghton, Demi Stokes, Daphne Corboz, Zoe Tynan, Nikita Parris, Kosovare Asllani, Alethea Paul, Jane Ross.
Substitutes: Georgia Stanway for Corboz 70; Amelia Kemp for Bronze 79.
Substitutes not used: Ellie Roebuck, Toni Duggan, Ceri Holland.
Goals: Nikita Parris 7, Jane Ross 22.
Sporting Club Albion (4-2-3-1): Rebecca Thomas, Kelly Darby, Eleanor Clarke, Kelly Highman, Natalie Poole, Samantha Conroy, Trina Greaves, Leigh Dugmore, Summer Holmes, Karen Clough, Abigail Cottam.
Substitutes: Hazzana Parnell for Greaves 85; Stephanie Smith for Dugmore 85; Katie Wright for Homes 87.
Substitutes not used: Charlotte Edwards, Jessica Bate.
Bookings: Leigh Dugmore (83)
Referee: Peter Gooch
Attendance: 1,270
