Man City Women 1-0 Birmingham Women: England striker Toni Duggan nets winner

Toni Duggan returned from the Women’s World Cup to fire Manchester City to a 1 -0 victory over Birmingham.

The England striker pounced 10 minutes into the second half, converting a simple tap-in after international team-mate Jill Scott had evaded three challenges to cut the ball back to her.

City began well, with captain Steph Houghton picking out Natasha Harding with a long pass but the striker’s shot was well saved by Blues goalkeeper Becky Spencer.

Duggan then curled a shot wide, Jennifer Beattie directed a header over, and World Cup Golden Ball nominee Lucy Bronze saw a header cleared off the line shortly before the break.

Birmingham did have their chances, with Coral Hines seeing a free-kick from the edge of the area clip the crossbar, before shooting straight at England stopper Karen Bardsley.

Duggan then popped up to score and she should have added another 10 minutes later when she hit the side-netting from a good position, with Nikita Parris then denied by Becky Spencer.

At the other end of the pitch, Karen Carney fired straight at Bardsley in what proved to be the away side’s final chance to draw level as City held on for their second win of the season.

“I think we’ve made a good transition from World Cup mode to club mode,” said Duggan after the game.

“You see the performances today; Jill put one on a plate for me today, Steph got man-of-the-match, Lucy was brilliant again and Karen Bardsley kept a clean sheet.

“We know it’s a big second half of the season, and it’s a great achievement what we did out in Canada and we’re not going to shy away from that and we should be able to enjoy it.

“But it’s back to business with our clubs now, and it’s a difficult transition because it’s such a short space of time, but we’re professionals and we’re used to this.”

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