Manchester City extend WSL lead with 4-0 win at Doncaster

While she admits she couldn’t have asked for more from her team-mates, Lucy Bronze insists Manchester City must take every game as it comes despite their dominant victory over Doncaster Rovers Belles to further their lead at the top of the FA WSL 1 table.

A Jane Ross goal after only 12 seconds kick-started City’s comfortable win to move them well clear of Chelsea in top spot, with Izzy Christiansen doubling their lead before the break.

Goals from Bronze and Daphne Corboz made it four for Nick Cushing’s team in the second half, but for Bronze, her team must not get carried away by their league position and insists the focus must be on bagging maximum points from every game.

"It doesn’t get much better; we did well today considering we’ve had such a run of games in quick succession," she said. "We’ve had a hard run so to come away from home and get a good win is a great feeling.

"We know we’re still two games ahead of Chelsea and we’ve still got the top three or four teams to play, it’s a good position for us to be in but we have to make sure we’re focused and we go out and win those last few home games.

"We have to focus our minds on the league, the game against Arsenal in the Continental Cup is going to be a tough one for us, we’ve got the toughest draw we could have got and whoever turns out to win that could go on and win the whole thing.

"But we have to look at the league and focus on getting three points in our next match."

City’s first goal came just moments after kick-off when Leandra Little’s ball from the back worked its way to Georgia Stanway, before Ross headed home the winger’s pinpoint cross.

The Belles responded well but fell further behind soon after when Houghton’s header inside the box found midfielder Christiansen, who was able to swivel and shoot beyond Nicola Hobbs.

The home side did create chances; Christie Murray struck the post with a superb lofted effort before Carla Humphrey smashed the rebound over.

Donny's Katrin Omarsdottir (l) challenges City striker Toni Duggan in Thursday's game

But another corner sealed the Belles’ demise just after the hour when Bronze found herself on the end of Toni Duggan’s cross, before Corboz rounded off proceedings with an excellent left-footed effort as the game moved into stoppage time.

And for Belles midfielder Katrin Omarsdottir, positives must be taken from the game as they continue their search for a first league win.

"We try to go into every game to get three points but obviously people from the outside won’t expect us to get something from teams like Manchester City and the bigger teams," she said.

"If you look at the last four or five games there have been various improvements in our game so there are positives to take from the last month or so but sooner or later we need to start winning games.

"We just have to keep going, this is football and we’re in a bad situation right now but we have to try and win every game we play so we can stay in this league."

Doncaster Belles (4-3-3): Nicola Hobbs; Sophie Barker, Leandra Little, Rhiannon Roberts, Mayumi Pacheco; Emily Simpkins, Kasia Lipka, Sam Tierney; Christie Murray, Katrin Omarsdottir, Carla Humphrey

Substitutes: Lauren Cresswell for Murray 80

Substitutes not used: Anna Moorhouse, Sue Smith, Yasmin Mosby, Rachel Newborough, Marta Bakowska-Mathews

Manchester City (4-2-3-1): Karen Bardsley; Lucy Bronze, Steph Houghton, Jen Beattie, Demi Stokes; Keira Walsh, Tessel Middag; Georgia Stanway, Izzy Christiansen, Toni Duggan; Jane Ross

Substitutes: Nikita Parris for Stanway 58, Daphne Corboz for Middag 77

Substitutes not used: Marie Hourihan, Ella Toone

Referee: Antony Tankard

Attendance: 740