Ella Toone said “it means so much” after her hat-trick guided Manchester United Women to a famous 4-2 win over rivals Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
City were made to pay for some sloppy errors in a pulsating derby game, with Toone scoring either side of a Leah Galton strike to give the visitors a commanding lead.
Vivianne Miedema and Rebecca Knaak netted for City to reduce the deficit, before Toone capitalised on another defensive lapse to seal her hat-trick.
“We’re speechless as well. It’s a derby, so it means so much,” Toone told Sky Sports.
“I thought we put in a massive shift and a great performance. I think we deserved it.
“I was letting the girls know – ‘girls, I’ve never scored in a Manchester derby, never scored against City’, and for a girl who supports Manchester United, I know what these derbies mean.
“I want to come into every game making something happen on the pitch and putting in a shift for the girls.
“But today, I wanted a goal and managed to get three, so a special day for me and I couldn’t have done it without the players and staff.
“I’ve been through a lot, and when I got injured, it was a blessing in disguise. Looking back now, I needed it, not just physically but mentally as well. I’ve used my time wisely to get back fitter and stronger, but more importantly, look after myself.”
Toone praised United’s spirit after a performance and a result that saw United leapfrog City to go third in the Women’s Super League table.
“We’re doing well,” Toone said.
“Sometimes people write us off but we know what squad we’ve got. We have personality, we’ve got attitude, we’ve got work-rate and we give it our all every time we step onto the pitch and we enjoy playing together.
“Today was really special for us. It’s a Manchester derby, we came out fighting, we put a show on right until the end. There were times in that game where they had a lot of possession and mentally, that’s hard to keep running and to keep fighting, but we did that.
“I’m proud of the team today and that one was for Geyse as well [who is on personal leave and missed the game].”
Manchester United goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce added: “We have a really gritty team and women that are ready to just grind it out and that’s what we saw today for sure, especially Toonie.
“Toonie has just been an absolute inspiration. Seeing her from the side, she’s been the first one on the training ground and the last one to leave. You (Toone) have earned every second of this moment for how hard you worked to get back.”
Skinner: Fearless United played with personality
Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner:
“My enjoyment comes from the team enjoying their football and we gave a really good account of ourselves. I know we’ll talk about the mistakes that Man City have made, but we made them make the mistakes.
“We’ve had a little bit of criticism in the bigger games this season where we’ve been a little bit passive, but tonight we were just ‘right, okay, we’ll go after Man City’. We forced the errors and we got our rewards tonight.
“It’s three points. It’s a fantastic performance. But for me, it’s more important how this young group will grow from it.
“I’ve been in here before. Two seasons ago, we won at the Emirates. We took games to teams and our team is new again and it’s young again. They’ve had to learn these big stage environments. Tonight is a great learning curve for them.
“I think the thing that overrides lack of experience is personality and fearlessness. And I felt that we had that in abundance tonight.
“Tonight is a big victory for the whole of our whole club. And we’re going to take it forward to play them again on Wednesday [in the League Cup], which is going to be interesting.
“So we were going to rest, recover and be ready to put in another performance against them.”
Taylor: We gave away easy goals
Manchester City boss Gareth Taylor:
“Our build-up play is usually a strong part of our game, it has been for many years and it will continue to be that way. It’s the way I like to play because it allows us to arrive together as a team, but we got it wrong tonight on a number of occasions.
“When you give away goals, particularly the one at the start of the second half, it killed the momentum because we had got it back.
“In between the boxes, we were pretty good and created some good chances, had quite a lot of the game. It was just at the beginning of the game when we gave up too many chances to them.
“They’re easy goals. Sometimes when you play like and the decision making is wrong… it was really off for us in that part, which is normally a strong part of our game.
“I can count on one hand the amount of goals we’ve given away playing like that, so it’s frustrating to give away three in that manner and the fourth was difficult to take as well because it’s a situation we don’t need to be in.”
Analysis: Error-strewn City lack Plan B
Sky Sports’ Laura Hunter:
Is this the moment Manchester United enter the title race? A statement win in a derby, to all but end City’s hopes of a second WSL crown will have made it all the sweeter.
Gareth Taylor’s side started the day in second and ended it fourth. The numerous mistakes they made were completely out of character, but equally reflective of Man United’s brazen approach.
Fortune favours the brave.
They pressed high from minute one, forcing errors, and capitalised on every City stumble.
Marc Skinner’s side smothered their hosts, and yet, it was City who enjoyed 74 per cent of the ball. The fact United scored four goals having such a stingy possession share makes the result even more remarkable.
All too often City have relied on their ability to overpower opponents by passing them into submission and in the absence of any Plan B, were beaten by the savvier game plan.