Khadija Shaw’s brace and another goal from Lauren Hemp helped Manchester City make it back-to-back wins in the Women’s Super League with a 3-0 victory at Tottenham.
Gareth Taylor’s side had started the new campaign with consecutive defeats but followed up last weekend’s dismantling of Leicester with a clinical display in the capital.
Shaw struck either side of half time at Brisbane Road to take her tally for the season to seven before England attacker Hemp grabbed a late third on a difficult day for Spurs, who saw Ellie Brazil leave the pitch on a stretcher.
Tottenham and Man City had encountered close battles during their WSL fixtures last season but the start of this clash was overshadowed when Brazil suffered a potentially serious injury in the third minute.
Home summer signing Brazil impressively closed down visiting goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck but injured herself in the process of blocking the clearance.
Brazil’s left leg had to be put in a brace and she eventually went off to warm applause on a stretcher following a lengthy delay.
Man City were able to settle better after the restart with Esme Morgan and Hemp, one of several Lionesses in the away line-up, sending efforts wide before Deyna Castellanos tested Rebecca Spencer in the home goal in the 25th minute.
Spencer saved well from Castellanos and was equal to Yui Hasegawa’s long-rang shot after 40 minutes too but from the resulting corner Taylor’s side took the lead.
Alex Greenwood produced a pinpoint delivery into the area, which Shaw met on the run and sent a well-timed header into the bottom corner.
Tottenham responded to the opener with their first shot of note but Ashleigh Neville sliced over at the back post following Angharad James’ cross to ensure it remained 1-0 at the break.
Man City had enjoyed more than 70 per cent possession during the opening 45 and were able to make their dominance count at the start of the second period.
James was dispossessed inside her own half and Hemp passed into Shaw, who took her shot early and drilled into the bottom corner from 25 yards.
The City forward wheeled away in celebration and almost had her hat-trick on the hour mark but Molly Bartrip made a timely interception from Kerstin Casparij’s cut back.
In between Shaw had taken a ball to the face from close range but was able to carry on.
Euro 2022 match-winner Chloe Kelly, wearing a white headband, looked to get in on the act soon after and saw a 20-yard effort deflected over by Asmita Ale.
Shaw squandered another opportunity with 21 minutes left when she scuffed wide after Lauren Coombs pass and it briefly lifted the hosts.
Rehanne Skinner saw Evelina Summanen produce a dangerous cross before Drew Spence curled over but Man City provided the sucker-punch in the 76th-minute.
Coombs found Hemp, who turned Amy Turner inside out before the England ace arrowed a left-footed shot in off the post to wrap up the scoring in London with her third goal of the season.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here