Skinner: One of our biggest wins of the season

The result, secured by Millie Turner’s 79th-minute header on her first league start since September, came off the back of Thursday night’s Champions League win over Atletico Madrid, with the return leg of that play-off tie to come this Thursday.

London City scored early through former Red Nikita Parris and the visitors battled fiercely for every ball. Even after Jess Park equalised with half an hour played, there was no guarantee United would go on to win.

“The amount of challenges [we faced] in the game… I think I put Lisa Naalsund in about seven different positions,” Skinner said in his post-match press conference.

“You could see it was a little bit of an energy deficiency from us, and just a cohesion thing – nothing to do with the players coming in, it just takes a bit of time to click – and London City were right after us from the off.

“They’ve had a week to prepare, so they did well first off, [and] made it difficult for us. But we thought on our feet, there was a moment for us to take a tactical [discussion] and just open up a little bit better. But I think we just needed to get through today… it was a moment for us to get through.”

Asked if it this was about being able to ‘win ugly’, the boss replied: “The most successful teams in this country have done it for many years. Chelsea, I definitely say, have done that, so it’s when you come out of [a] midweek [game] and you just have to get it done.

“Look, our players want to play beautiful football all the time, but the maturing part of it is just find a way to win the game. What I love about us [is] we can mix our style and what you’ve seen today is there's just a special spirit within this group that never gives up.”

SKINNER ‘SO PROUD’ OF TURNER

An injury for Turner during United’s 5-1 win over London City in September’s reverse meeting ruled her out until January. She’d recently started in the FA Cup against Burnley and came off the bench against Aston Villa in the league, but this encounter was her first WSL start since suffering the knee problem.

Not only did she complete 90 minutes, she came up big with the decisive goal, too.

“Honestly, so proud,” Skinner said when Millie’s impact was brought up. “It’s been tough for Millie. In the last three seasons, Millie has played 90 per cent of all the minutes.

“The team have done so well at the back and Millie was injured for the first part of the year, but to come in and do what she’s done today and complete a 90. Did you see her get cramp? ‘No I’m not coming off.’ That shows the spirit she has and if there is romance in football, that was a special moment for her.”

‘JESS IS A STREET FOOTBALLER’

Skinner said he asked Park what was in her head when she took the shot that brought United level after the difficult start to the game.

“She just went, ‘I’m going to hit this’ and it was literally that,” he said. “That's all it needs for Jess. She plays like she’s a street footballer with her mates and I’m going to make sure she does that forever because I think she’s just incredible.”