Manchester City maintained their unbeaten record against city rivals Manchester United by drawing 1-1 in the Women’s Super League on Sunday.
The fierce encounter saw a record attendance of 44,259 at the Etihad with both sides playing out a heart-pounding second half.
Leah Galton had given the visitors the lead with a deflected effort into the bottom corner on 27 minutes before Laura Coombs headed in Chloe Kelly’s cross from the right wing to restore equality just before the hour mark.
United almost snatch a win
United came close to snatching a late win from him, but saw his appeals for a penalty disallowed by the referee in the dying minutes.
It appeared that City defender Alex Greenwood had handled the ball as it fell over the box as he pushed it past goalkeeper Alex Greenwood.
Referee Abigail Byrne would have done little in the absence of VAR in the WSL.
United manager Marc Skinner said: “Honestly I haven’t seen it, I hear everyone on the bench yelling, ‘Actually, I probably want us to get ahead of that before anyway.’
With the result, United remain 3 points behind their arch-rivals in the race for a Champions League spot.
Despite being winless, the visiting team would be content with one point after ending their three-game losing streak from three away trips around town.
The Red Devils have been in fine form this season performing above expectations and at just 2 points shy of first place, a title challenge is still on the line.
Chelsea remain at the top of the table with 24 points from 9 games, while Arsenal are in second place and in their quest for first place.
However, City had a poor start to the season with back-to-back league defeats and exiting the Champions League at the qualifying stage.
Gareth Taylor’s team is currently fourth in the table and the manager lamented that his team should have played better with more control: “We should have managed the game better than we did. We gave them a chance.”
The contest featured 13,000 more people on the field compared to last year’s game, which then saw a league record 31,213 fans turn out to watch their favorite team face off against each other.
There were also huge crowds in the Etihad’s visitor’s section with United fans spreading out across the Etihad’s three tiers in the South Stand.
This was just below the Women’s Super League attendance record set by Arsenal earlier in the year.
