Toone: It’s a tough one to take

The forward’s improvised acrobatic effort early in the second half looked to be the decisive moment in a tough contest at the Chigwell Construction Stadium. 

But an equaliser for the hosts in stoppage time saw the points shared right at the last, something that Toone says is difficult to acknowledge after the work that United put in for the win.

“Obviously it’s a tough one to take. These are the games we want to take three points from and probably should be taking three points from,” Toone told MUTV’s Mollie Kmita post-match.

“So, it’s a little bit disappointing but we know we’ve got a lot to play for and if you look at the performance, I thought we played really well.

“We showed resilience and we always show that character that we have as a team, so we’ll build on that and go into the next game really confident.”

In testing conditions and with a number of players unavailable, the Reds had to stick together and were made to work for any reward by a well-organised Hammers side. 

Toone credited United’s ever-present character and determination after the final whistle and had particular praise for captain Katie Zelem who filled in at centre-back in the absence of several squad members that are more familiar with that position.

“We’re a family and we stick together always. 

“Obviously we had Zel out of position tonight and I thought she was unbelievable.

“But that just shows the character we have, and we’ll all do a job wherever we’re put. So, I’m disappointed that we couldn’t take the three points from that tonight but there’s a lot of positives to take.”

Despite the disappointment, our no.7 was upbeat about the manner in which we go into the coming week and a half before our next outing against Everton, at Old Trafford. 

“We need to use that rest wisely, get a few players back, get a few players recharged,” the forward insisted.

“But we’ll just take the positives that we’ve had from tonight. I thought we defended really well, played as a team and wanted to get on the ball and make things happen. 

“I think when we watch it back, we’ll take a lot of positives from the game, and we’ll also learn a lot as well.”

Tickets for United Women’s historic WSL home game at Old Trafford, against Everton on Sunday 27 March, are on sale now from manutd.com/womenstickets.