Manchester United Women’s defender Maya Le Tissier was delighted to be able to help the Reds record an assured win on the opening weekend of the new WSL season.
The summer signing, playing at centre-back on the afternoon, scored a brace inside the opening 25 minutes of her bow to help United to a 4-0 victory over Reading at Leigh Sports Village.
It’s a debut outcome that not even Maya herself expected, as she explained when catching up with club media after the final whistle.
“Just to get on the scoresheet and help the girls out, it’s great. I’m not really one that’s known to score goals so that’s really nice,”she told MUTV’s Liam Bradford.
“I never score goals so when I score, it’s like: ’wow’. Usually, I go for like one a season and that’s about it, but great crosses from Zel [Katie Zelem], she puts great balls like that in all the time which gives any one of us [the opportunity] to score a goal, so very lucky to be able to score two.
“The main thing is the three points and to help the team out. Three points and a clean sheet to start the season, that’s all we can ask for.”
The game marked the latter’s welcome return to competitive action from a rare injury that had seen her sidelined for the second half of last season.
“To have Millie Turner back on the pitch, [it is] a credit to her,”Le Tissier said.
“I’ve only been here for the pre-season, but you can see how hard she’s worked and how big a part of the team she is.
Speaking about the team as a whole, Maya went on to add: “Lucia [Garcia] obviously made her debut, Adriana [Leon too], everyone came on made a difference. It’s been a great day.”
“That’s what we want to do: we want to entertain the fans.
“For us to be able to score four in the first half and then close the game off is really important for us.
“We want to just make sure they keep on coming back. We put on a performance to hopefully make sure they come back. To see all the girls’ faces, it’s crazy.”
Le Tissier also had a particularly big fan of hers among those in attendance on Saturday: “When I drove in, my dad surprised me as well so that was really nice of him to come over.
“He flew out this morning, I wasn’t expecting him to come, and I just turned up and he was there, it’s really special.”
Tickets for United Women’s upcoming home matches are available to purchase here, including our next game at Leigh Sports Village against Le Tissier’s former club, Brighton & Hove Albion.