Kelly, Hemp and Shaw show their class as Man City Women earn first WSL win of the season
Manchester City Women were a class above Leicester City as Gareth Taylor's side claimed their first win of the Women's Super League season.
Goals from Lauren Hemp, Yui Hasegawa and a brace from Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw earned City a comfortable 4-0 win, an encouraging response to the defeats at Aston Villa and Chelsea that opened the campaign.
City largely dominated proceedings, enjoying over 75 per cent possession as they were content to pull Leicester this way and that through endless, tidy passing sequences.
It took just six minutes for City to register their first attempt of the afternoon. Hemp gave an early indication of the kind of game she was going to have when she drove at Leicester right-back Erin Simon, beat her with ease and stood up a cross towards the back post.
Deyna Castellanos had made a run from midfield and was lying in wait, but her effort on the slide was saved well by Kirstie Levell. Hemp proved to be a menace down the left wing all afternoon as Chloe Kelly did on the right, the two Lionesses showing the kind of quality that their opponents just did not have.
Kelly went agonisingly close to opening the scoring after 14 minutes when she smacked the crossbar with an effort from the edge of the penalty area. The hero of England's Euro 2022 triumph was set up by a potential future national team star, Esme Morgan.
The 21-year-old left-back came into the starting XI in place of Leila Ouahabi and showed just why manager Taylor tipped her to be a future England captain during his pre-match press conference. Morgan effortlessly played her way out of Leicester's press by playing a one-two with Alex Greenwood, before surging into midfield and spreading the ball out to Kelly, who had half of the pitch to run into.
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