Report: United Women 8 Real Betis 0

As part of our ongoing training camp in Marbella, Marc Skinner's Reds faced the Spanish second-division side at the Marbella Football Center, where goals from Anna Sandberg and Jess Anderson bookended braces from Celin Bizet, Melvine Malard and Elisabeth Terland.

United have already faced fellow WSL clubs Aston Villa (2-0 win) and Man City (0-0 draw) this summer, and are now due to complete our pre-season schedule against another side from the English top flight, Liverpool, at Leigh Sports Village on Wednesday night.

FIRST HALF

The Reds were ahead inside the first minute when Sandberg received the ball from Lisa Naalsund inside the penalty area and turned to fire into the top-right corner on her left foot, before Bizet made it 2-0 after four minutes, taking down a crossfield pass from Malard, checking inside onto her own left foot and curling the ball over the goalkeeper to scoring effect.

While gaining more valuable pre-season minutes, Skinner's side were showing quality in abundance early on and had a third goal before the 20-minute mark, after Malard intercepted the ball off the Betis backline before driving towards goal and working an angle to coolly slot past the keeper, one-on-one.

Dominating possession and pressing our opponents high up the pitch, United were enjoying the outing in Marbella which we led 7-0 at half-time. Malard - back from representing France at the Euros - was the first of three Reds to complete a first-half brace by netting a super solo effort that involved tricking her way past multiple Betis defenders, before Bizet was next, bagging her second when converting on the rebound after Terland had been denied.

Terland then followed with a quickfire double of her own on the stroke of the break. Bizet was the provider for the first, whipping a free-kick in from the left that her Norwegian compatriot controlled perfectly before finishing into the bottom corner, prior to new signing Julia Zigiotti Olme teeing up the second after winning possession with a tackle that diverted the ball to Teri, who smashed home emphatically.

SECOND HALF

After winning the Euros with England earlier this summer, captain Maya Le Tissier was making her first appearance of pre-season and audibly guiding her team-mates through the action from the first whistle. Le Tissier was joined on the pitch by her fellow Lionesses heroes Grace Clinton and Ella Toone in the second half, with their substitute cameos also their maiden summer minutes for us.

Clinton and Toone were two of nine players introduced to play a part in a less rewarding second half from a goals point of view, but positively there were minutes banked across the squad, including for three Academy Reds yet to make their first competitive appearances for the club; Anderson, Scarlett Hill and Sienna Wareing.

There was also another runout in our senior side for Kiera Barry since the long-term injury that saw her sidelined for much of last season. Barry was denied a second-half goal with a well-executed volley on a Bizet cross from the right, which the keeper was forced to divert from hitting the roof of the net.

Experience and youth were mixed on the pitch as United looked for further breakthroughs, against a Betis team that had grown into the encounter, using their strength and physicality to frustrate us. But the Reds did find an eighth goal two minutes from time through Academy midfielder Anderson, who squeezed the ball in off the post from a tight angle, by the right-wing byline.

MATCH DETAILS

United: Tullis-Joyce (Middleton-Patel); Riviere (Hill), Le Tissier (c), Janssen, Sandberg (George); Awujo (Anderson), Naalsund (Miyazawa), Zigiotti (Clinton); Bizet (Wareing), Terland (Toone), Malard (Barry).

Unused sub: Rendell.

Goals: Sandberg 1, Bizet 4, 32, Malard 19, 30, Terland 44, 45, Anderson 88.