Right down to 10 in opposition to a Manchester Metropolis facet wolfishly looking down our third-place place – the final of the Girls’s Tremendous League’s European slots – with the sport locked at two objectives apiece, it was sink-or-swim stuff.
Melvine Malard had levelled for the Reds minutes earlier, however a second yellow card for Aoife Mannion, simply seconds after that purpose, immediately shifted the competition into one other new section: defence versus assault. Hunters in opposition to the hunted.
Some may describe what adopted as ‘determined defending’. However this United Girls group merely do not do determined defending – these women would most likely want the phrase ‘delectable’.
As a result of what adopted, in the course of the remaining 20-plus-five minutes, was the Reds’ season in miniature: an impassioned burst of collective resilience, pushed by what captain Maya Le Tissier later described as a sheer “love” for the artwork of defending.
It ended with the clinching of a season-long purpose: qualification for the UEFA Girls’s Champions League subsequent time period. And there may very well be extra to come back nonetheless, with a 3rd FA Cup remaining in as a few years looming earlier than the top of Might.
Proper now, we really feel like celebrating the whole lot of this loveable squad. However, seeing as our TeamViewer Trending collection leads on people, it feels acceptable to place ahead the skipper – the younger, driving pressure behind this most collective of soccer groups…
