Gareth Taylor believes impressive Manchester derby win will "reboot" City season

20 November 2023 , 09:18

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Gareth Taylor led his team to a first derby success since February 2022

Gareth Taylor believes Manchester City can use their 3-1 derby win over Manchester United to reignite their season.

City stunned a record WSL Old Trafford crowd by coming from behind, with Jill Roord and Lauren Hemp putting them in control at half-time.

Bunny Shaw then capitalised on a rare error from Mary Earps following Maya Le Tissier's backpass to end United's lengthy unbeaten home run in the league. Despite a red card for Laia Aleixandri, City held out for a priceless win that throws them back into the title race after back-to-back defeats against Arsenal and Brighton.

Considering no team has ever won the WSL while losing more than two games, City probably can't afford another loss this season if they want to finish first. But manager Taylor believes their high profile derby win may be the catalyst to turn their season around.

"It's a reboot for us," said Taylor. "We've had two results where we weren't quite at it in terms of the final bit but our performances were pretty good in those games. In general those performances have been good.

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"It's the hardest thing in the world to put the ball in the back of the net and hopefully this can act as a springboard. Hopefully this game can bring a lot of confidence going forward."

United were given a huge lifeline when Aleixandri was sent off with still over 20 minutes to play for a cynical foul on Lucia Garcia. But the hosts failed to truly rally and Taylor's team saw the game out comfortably.

They could at least take comfort from setting a new record crowd for a home WSL game, with 43,615 fans inside Old Trafford. United also had a key decision go against them when Geyse's effort was ruled out, the ball adjudged to have marginally gone out of play.

"It's a really big spectacle to play on," Taylor said of the venue. "When you come to Old Trafford, there's a big crowd and it's probably a completely different game to any normal WSL game. So, I have to give the players great credit and all of the staff as well, they've been magnificent as well.

"The two goals we scored in the first half were the hardest chances. We had two easier ones. There's still work for us to do but great credit to the players.

"We were thrown into another situation again with the red card. I can't have too many complaints about it but we're prepped for that situation. Fair play to Steph (Houghton) and Kerstin (Casparij), they came in and were great in the way we handled the game."

Jack Lacey-Hatton