Report: Rangers 0 United Women 5

The Reds followed up Saturday's 2-0 triumph over Aston Villa with an emphatic showing against the Scottish Women's Premier League side, as part of our week-long training camp north of the border. 

United went into the break with a two-goal advantage courtesy of strikes from captain Katie Zelem and Lucy Staniforth before the former doubled her tally for the evening early in the second half. 

Kirsty Hanson and Leah Galton then completed the scoring late on to cap off a successful evening's work for Marc Skinner's side.

Having drawn with Liverpool earlier this month prior to that victory over Villa, Skinner's side looked to continue building up that preparation for the new Women's Super League season with a third friendly of the summer, against Rangers. 

Prior to game number three in charge for our new women's head coach, he caught up with MUTV and among other topics, he spoke about Hanson's energy on the pitch. The winger was then displaying that in the early exchanges at the Rangers Training Centre, with her first burst forward leading to the opener. 

Our no.18 was brought down on the edge of the penalty area, following a run, with Zelem stepping up to expertly find the net from the free-kick to give United an eighth-minute lead. 

Both of our aforementioned pre-season fixtures had come on home turf at Carrington, but despite this being north of the border at the Scottish club's training ground, the Reds were making themselves feel at home in the opening stages and could have doubled the lead had Staniforth's strike on the turn not been blocked by a Rangers defender. 

The midfielder's next effort, on 33 minutes, could not be stopped though, as she deservedly doubled United's advantage. Staniforth was picked out just inside the box by Vilde Boe Risa's ball from the right and kept her composure to pick out the far corner of the net. 

The Reds went into the break with a two-goal lead and got straight back onto the front foot upon returning to the pitch in search of a third, which was found less than 10 minutes into the second half.

Ella Toone, who was getting her first pre-season run-out since returning from her exploits with Team GB at the Tokyo Olympics, found Zelem advancing forward, with the skipper taking the ball on before lobbing the goalkeeper from around 25 yards out to double her tally for the game, and make it 3-0 on 51 minutes. 

Despite the conventional substitutions of a pre-season fixture taking place in numbers as the second half went on, United's flow did not break and with that, Skinner's side only carried on growing in confidence. Ona Batlle curled wide from range while Hanson fired just wide as the clock ticked over the 70th minute mark.

Hanson had scored in each of the Reds' first two pre-season games and made it a hat-trick of goalscoring outings shortly after, to the delight of the travelling United fans, who were able to support the team in person for the first time since before the pandemic. After being found by Galton inside the penalty area, the winger turned and found the net with a powerful low strike to make it 4-0. 

Having been the provider on that occasion, Galton netted herself shortly after to complete the scoring. Our no.11 was fed in on goal by substitute Ivana Fuso and picked her spot before beating the 'keeper with a perfectly placed finish. 

That capped off a successful evening's work for Skinner's side, who will now round off the week-long training camp in Scotland before heading back to England with our final friendly of the summer the focus, against Brighton & Hove Albion a week on Saturday (28 August).

MATCH DETAILS 

United: Baggaley (Earps 61); Smith (Blundell 46), Turner (Thorisdottir 46), Mannion, Batlle (Smith 75); Boe Risa (Fuso 61), Zelem (c), Staniforth; Hanson, Galton, Toone (Jones 61).  

Scorers: Zelem 8, 51, Staniforth 33, Hanson 74, Galton 77.