Manchester United Women 1 Everton 0
Manchester United's latest pre-season outing has ended in a narrow 1-0 victory against Everton.
It was Lucia Garcia who provided the finishing touch after a fantastic cross-field ball from Maya Le Tissier found Martha Thomas, who proceeded to play in the Spaniard.
Everton were very much the team on top for the large majority of the first half, causing United problems with their high press.
Lucy Graham had the chance to put the visitors ahead inside the opening 10 minutes, but her effort was hit straight into the path of Mary Earps in the United goal.
Everton keeper Courtney Brosnan picked up an early booking after she came running off her line and collided with Leah Galton to prevent her from going through on goal. The resulting free-kick from captain Katie Zelem went marginally over the target.
Graham was gifted another chance to put Everton ahead after a mishap at the back for United, but Earps stood tall to gather it comfortably.
The end-to-end football continued after the break with both sides battling well at the back and in the middle of the park.
However, many of the clear-cut chances wouldn't come until late on, as the substitutes livened up the game.
Thomas and Garcia combined well on a handful of occasions. The former had a huge opportunity to open the scoring but Brosnan did exceptionally well to save one-v-one by getting down quickly.
Highlights: United Women v Everton
Watch two minutes of action from Carrington, where our women's team hosted the Toffees in a pre-season friendly...
But moments later, new signing Garcia made no mistake as she put the Reds ahead. Maya Le Tissier started the move with an excellent pass out wide to Thomas, which was followed by a delivery into the box where the Spaniard was waiting to put the ball into the back of the net.
United shot-stopper Earps kept our lead intact in the final minutes of the game, saving a shot from Katja Snoeijs to deny Everton a late equaliser.
The victory means Marc Skinner's side have plenty of positives to build upon ahead of the WSL season opener against Tottenham Hotspur on 10 September.
MATCH DETAILS
United: Earps; Le Tissier, Thorisdottir (Tounkara, 67), Turner (Staniforth, 67), Blundell; Zelem (Ladd, 45), Groenen (Clinton, 67); Parris (Thomas, 67), Toone (Boe Risa, 45), Galton; Russo (Garcia, 45).
Subs not used: Baggaley.
Goals: Garcia, 80.
Everton: Brosnan; Sevecke, Bjorn, Veje (Finnigan, 57), George, Graham; Holmgaard (Wheeler, 69), Galli; Park (Christiansen, 57), Bennison (Beever-Jones, 69), Snoeijs.
Subs not used: Kirby, Weir, Clarke, Wilding.
Booked: Brosnan, 16.