Skinner: It was a professional performance

The Reds put on a dominant display under the floodlights at St Andrew’s to overcome the Blues as the weekend came to an end.

A first-half goal from Leah Galton following a well-worked move sent United ahead before Ella Toone scored 10 minutes from time to remove any doubt about the points coming back to M16 and Skinner was understandably happy with what he saw from his players following the triumph in the Midlands.

"A professional performance," he summarised. "We needed a reaction from the players, not necessarily because of the result last week, but to continue the growth that we’ve been showing in the previous games."

Both goals came via overlapping runs from Hannah Blundell, with the full-back claiming the assists for both strikes in the Reds Midlands win.

"For tonight, we found a way when they put up a difficult block and road in front of us," Skinner said, explaining that the squad had put special emphasis on the attacking moves in training.

"It was pitfalls of players everywhere that were trying to be resolute and stopping us scoring, so I felt that we were very professional in the end. There’s lots of things we want to improve on but most importantly we come away with three points and we come away with moving up the table where we want to be."

Blundell agreed with her head coach and also emphasised the importance of bouncing back with a winning performance after last weekend’s defeat to Chelsea.

"I think it shows that we've got a great group of girls and like you say, the character in this group," our no.6 said.

"From Sunday’s performance we knew we had to respond and bounce back and we made sure we put in a professional performance today. The main thing was getting the win and, in the end, we got it."

The defender was pleased about her two assists in Birmingham and says it’s hopefully just the start in terms of attacking contributions from the offensive full-back.

"I want to contribute more at that end and of course, getting a clean sheet today as well was a massive thing, but obviously I want to contribute to the goals. Luckily, I got two assists. I could have scored but I thought I’d stick to the assists today."

Galton thinks United deserved the 2-0 win and that it could have been more, as the Reds controlled the majority of the play.

“We’ve just been working on overlapping and underlapping runs and it seems to be exactly what we did,” our no. 11 said about her goal. "Credit to Hannah, great assist, and I was in the right place at the right time and got my goal.”

The winger also praised the squad’s mentality to bounce back in style and said in her post-match interview that she admired the girls for their positive attitude leading up to the clash at St Andrew's.

"That was the biggest thing for us. I was obviously a really heavy defeat and it hurt us and we had to move on very quickly. We were just looking for a reaction and tonight we definitely got it."

United have now won three out of four games in the WSL this campaign and sit fourth in the table following the weekend’s action.

“It has [been a good start],” Galton said.

“I always think it can be better obviously. We’re working hard in training and a lot has changed because obviously we have a new coach now, so we’re adapting to things but nine points out of 12, I’d definitely take that.”

Next up for United is the Manchester derby against City at Leigh Sports Village on Saturday 9 October. Get your tickets now.