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The 18-year-old England youth international Lily Murphy scored once and provided an assist in an impressive, match-winning display for Manchester City that knocked neighbours Manchester United out of the Women’s League Cup.
The victory gave Gareth Taylor’s visitors immediate revenge, in the second Manchester derby in the space of just four days after Sunday’s error-strewn 4-2 league defeat to their rivals at the Etihad Stadium. It also set up a one-legged semi-final away to Arsenal, to be played on 5 or 6 February.
The pacey Murphy, who previously had loan spells with Stockport County, AFC Fylde and Stoke City before breaking into Manchester City’s senior squad this season, has played in five Women’s Super League games and five times in the Champions League this term but it was on Wednesday when it felt as though she truly announced herself on a big stage as she produced a mature performance beyond her years on the left wing, helping Manchester City cope with the continued absence of their influential England winger Lauren Hemp.
Murphy’s goal on the stroke of half-time, which ultimately proved to be the winner, was her first goal in a professional English club competition and only her second senior goal, after her first goal for the club in the Women’s Champions League in December against the Austrian side St Polten. At a fairly flat-feeling Leigh Sports Village, she controlled the ball with her head before cutting inside from the left flank, gliding past the experienced Manchester United full-back Aoife Mannion with ease, before angling a right-footed shot into the far corner, off the inside of the post, with the in-form Manchester United goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce getting a hand to the shot but not being able to keep it out.
Earlier, Murphy had helped put the visitors ahead when her well-placed near-post cross was turned in by midfielder Laura Coombs, before the Manchester United centre-back Millie Turner had temporarily levelled the score at 1-1 with a confident finish into the roof of the net from close range, after Manchester City had failed to clear a high, looping cross from Melvine Malard.
The home side also went close in the first half through the veteran striker Rachel Williams’ acrobatic effort that dropped just over the crossbar, but this performance from Marc Skinner’s team appeared to lack the energy, intensity and determination which saw them earn their memorable win away against their rivals on Sunday, in their first away victory over Manchester City. This defeat will surely have killed some of the momentum and newfound confidence that Sunday’s victory could have given Skinner’s team. Ella Toone, who scored a hat-trick on Sunday, did not start Wednesday’s quarter-final, as Skinner appeared to rest some of her key players.
The defeat also continued Manchester United’s relatively disappointing record in the competition, with the club still yet to reach a League Cup final. They were semi-finalists three times in their first four attempts after reforming a senior women’s team in 2018, but have now not reached the last four since 2022. The club have lifted just one major piece of silverware – last season’s Women’s FA Cup.
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The League Cup has been a comparatively happy hunting ground for Manchester City, who are four-times former winners of the trophy and were most recently the winners in 2022. Taylor named the Brazil star Kerolin, his club’s new signing, on the bench but she was not brought on for her debut.
This year’s final will be staged on neutral ground at Pride Park, the home of Derby, on 15 March. Only three clubs – Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City – have ever won the trophy
