Greenwood injury mars comfortable Man City win over St Polten

Teenager Lily Murphy marked her first Manchester City start with the opening goal during their 2-0 victory against St Polten.

Dutch defender Kerstin Casparij scored the other City goal as they remain with a perfect record in this year’s UEFA Women’s Champions League and top of Group D.

The only dampener on a dominant display from Gareth Taylor’s side was a serious-looking injury for central defender Alex Greenwood.

City also had to adapt to being without central striker Khadija Shaw and despite controlling possession in the first half, they were without an opener.

However, as the visitors began to tire, City gained control and Aoba Fujino sent a ball into the box on 56 minutes which evaded the defence and found Murphy at the back post.

The Japanese forward repeated the same move 10 minutes later, this time sliding the ball into the box for Casparij to net.

Murphy had chances to add to her and City’s tally in the latter stages but failed to find the target when twice through on goal.

“It’s the moments that you dream of, to do it at this age is so special,” said 18-year-old Murphy after scoring her first senior goal.

“To do it with my childhood club is so special. I just tried to get in the box and get on the end of it, thankfully I did. We are dominant, we just want to win every game and be ruthless on the pitch.”

City head to Barcelona next Wednesday night knowing that they will top the group if they avoid defeat.

Manchester City coach Gareth Taylor confirmed pre-match that star striker Khadija Shaw was missing from his squad following ‘an issue’ during training and needed assessing.

At home this season, City had won every game coming into the match and had scored eight goals across their last three at home.

However, with Shaw missing the hosts were short of a main outlet up front during the first half before finding a direction of play in the second 45 minutes.

City could also be without central defender and skipper Alex Greenwood, who was stretchered off the pitch with a knee injury in the first half.

They both add to an injury list which includes Lauren Hemp, Chloe Kelly, Vivianne Miedema and Laura Combes.

However, the substantial injury list has opened the door for the likes of teenager Murphy to make their mark against defending champions Barcelona next week.

While Lily Murphy will rightfully steal the headlines, it was Fujino who terrorised the St Polten defenders. The Japanese star was marked by two defenders at times but used her footwork to send inviting crosses into the box.

Eventually, Murphy capitalised and gave City the opening goal they needed to break a stubborn defence.

After the opener, Fujino caused further problems and also provided an assist for Casparij to score a second and put the game out of sight.

Manchester City: Yamashita 6, Casparij 8, Kennedy 7, Greenwood 6, Ouahabi 8, Park 7, Hasegawa 7, Blindkilde Brown 7, Fujino 8, Fowler 7, Murphy 8

Subs: Aleixandri 7, Prior 6, Thomas 6

St Polten: Schluter 7, Mattner-Trembleau 6, Johanning 6, Balog 6, Touon 6, D’Angelo 6, Dubcova 6, Hillebrand 7, Mikolajova 6, Brunnthaler 6, Pekel 7.

Subs: Glibo 6, Madl 6, Meyer 6, Schumacher 6, Zver 6

29’ – GREENWOOD INJURY: A loose pass resulted in Brunnthaler breaking forward. Greenwood went in for the challenge and has suffered a nasty knee injury. She knew instantly it was a bad one and is stretchered off.

45’ – D’ANGELO SAVING CHALLENGE: Fujino with a darting run and picks out the run of Fowler who would have had an easy tap in at goal. However, defender D’Angelo reads the situation excellently and makes a diving challenge.

56’ – GOAL! MANCHESTER CITY 1 (MURPHY) ST POLTEN 0: On her first start teenager Murphy slides the ball home. Fujino with a darting run to the byline and as the covering defenders and diving goalkeeper miss the ball there is Murphy at the back stick to tap home.

61’ –CASPARIJ GOES CLOSE: Murphy sends a floated cross into the back post for defender Casparij who directs her header just wide.

66’ –GOAL! MANCHESTER CITY 2 (CASPARIJ) ST POLTEN 0: The provider is again Fujino drawing in two defenders out wide and then sending in a lovely ball across the face of goal. This time it is Casparij who is running in at the back post to score.

• Manchester City had 74% possession of the ball, resulting in 14 attempts on goal and four on target.

• City completed 770 out of their 846 attempted passes. This was compared to 154 completed passes by St Polten.