Marc Skinner praised his Manchester United players for moments of “real class”
in our 1-0 victory over Arsenal on Wednesday evening.
Alessia Russo’s first-half strike was enough to secure all three points at Leigh Sports Village in a crucial Women's Super League clash.
“We had to find a way to win the game but the beauty of it was that when Arsenal changed their tactics we had the answers,”
Skinner said after the game.
“We have shown that we can score, we have shown that we can keep clean sheets and this really is our fortress.”
Though the boss felt we weren't at our usual best, Skinner was still delighted with the 'resilience' shown by his players to grind out a result.
“Arsenal were not at their best but neither were we,”
he continued. “There was some moments of real class from us, we showed resilience and it just shows what we are learning as a team. I am really proud of everyone tonight.
“Arsenal are in the semi-finals of the Champions League. They are a top, top team and have been for many years.
“For us to win and do the double over them, for me [it] is a massive sign of our growth. We need to keep promising ourselves that we will keep up that energy and that growth.”Wednesday's win puts us four points ahead of Chelsea in second, with the Blues having two games in-hand, and Skinner believes our cleansheets could be key towards the end of the season.
He said: “What’s massively important is that it’s another cleansheet.
“I think that’s 12 for the season and that is huge. If you are going to win a championship you have to keep cleansheets.
“I am going to congratulate my players with a couple of days off and then it is back to it to prepare for Aston Villa next.”
Whilst many fans will be looking at the table and the possibility of winning the league, Skinner is refusing to get drawn into a battle with other teams.
“[The title race is] between us and us. We have to fight our own battle.
“I am not going to get drawn into what Chelsea do, we did that last year [and] it did not work. We have Aston Villa next and their growth has been massive this year so it will be a tough game.
“I am only interested in my own team. I cannot control the other teams so it’s wasted energy to think about it.”
Russo was almost a doubt for the game due to a sickness bug she picked up earlier in the week, but the United forward persevered to score against the Gunners for a fourth consecutive game.
“Russo was ill overnight with a sickness bug but her hunger for the game was what made us start her,”
Skinner revealed.
“She was telling me she really needed to play in this game and the goal was a real moment of hunger from her and showed why she needed to be in the starting line-up.”
Both Nikita Parris and Aoife Mannion were brought in for the game and played their part in ensuring the win.
Speaking about the decision to include them, Skinner said: “Nikita has been doing really well in training. Our front line up is interchanging so we like to rotate that. I thought that [she] would give us that extra push today. She had the hunger and against her old club.
“I’d also like to give a special mention to Aoife Mannion. We brought her in and she played amazing today, she has shown her quality once and again.
“All of our players are going to be needed as we come to the end of this campaign, everyone will play their part.”