Leigh Schuller’s first Manchester United Women’s Super League goal helped Mark Skinner’s side snatch a point late on as they drew 1-1 with Brighton at Leigh Sports Village.
United were hoping to return to the top three with a win, but a lackluster display in their final home game of the season left Brighton just minutes away from another historic win after defeating WSL leaders Man City and Champions League holders Arsenal in recent weeks in the FA Cup.
Jelena Kanković, 39, scored Brighton’s first WSL goal for Man United and it was almost enough to secure the three points, but Shuler’s equalizer in added time sealed the spoils.
United’s slim hopes of qualifying for the Champions League have become even more bleak. United have won just one of their last five games and have one league game left against Chelsea, leaving them one point behind third-placed Arsenal, who have three games in hand, and three points behind second-placed Blues, who have two games in hand.
Brighton’s next match is against Arsenal in the WSL in midweek, live on Sky Sports, before turning their attention to the FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool on Sunday 10 May.
Wednesday, May 6th 7:35pm
7:45pm kickoff
“If we provide the right service, Shuler will score goals.”
Manchester United manager Mark Skinner said of goal scorer Lee Schuller and the forwards being given the right service:
“It’s not about confidence in Leah. She understands and I’ve made it very clear to her that we need to feed (her) into that box. I think that’s great for her (confidence), but I also don’t think that’s something she continues to have.”
“She is in a new team. I told her and Ellen (Wangerheim) that she needs six months of learning. If she joins in the winter, she will be ready for next season.”
“If we serve Leah in the box, she will score a lot of goals.
“She was missing the serve. We changed our style with the reinforcements we had to make and have played really well and are really fresh. (But) if we can’t get on the pitch and support her, there’s no point in just sending the ball long and expecting her to hold it.”
“If we can get the ball to Lea Schuler in the box (like Elisabeth Terlando), we will score a lot of goals.”
Vidiosic leaves company “disappointed and frustrated”
Brighton manager Dario Vidosic:
“It’s disappointing and I’m quite frustrated with our performance, especially in the second half. It feels like we gave away two points rather than United taking two points from us.”
“You can’t just be at that level for 45 minutes and expect to win.
“We were the better team in the first half. We got some good goals from our press, but that’s something we’ve been working on and we had some chances in the first half that we should have done better.
“In the second half, when we were calm and passed the ball around, we created some really good chances, but we couldn’t convert them. After that, I would say it was a very immature performance from us.”
“But we’ll review it and work on things. It’s a big week so we’ll see how everyone is doing and then prepare for the big game against Arsenal on Wednesday.”
