United's lacklustre finish continues with disappointing draw against Brighton
United fall further behind in race for Europe, as club legend Galton bids farewell to home fans
Manchester United’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League were dealt another blow as they drew 1-1 with Brighton in their penultimate WSL game of the season on Saturday.
It took a late Lea Schüller goal to salvage a point for United after Jelena Cankovic put the Seagulls in front following a rare Phallon Tullis-Joyce error.
The result makes it just one win from nine games in all competitions for Marc Skinner’s side as frustrations continue to grow about the poor run of form in recent weeks.
As well as the disappointment around the result itself, emotions were running high at Leigh Sports Village as fans said goodbye to Leah Galton, who is leaving the club after eight years.
United now sit a point behind third-place Arsenal, who have three games in hand, with just one WSL fixture left to play for Skinner’s side.
What happened?
On paper, you could look at the stats of this game and think it was a close encounter. United had more possession (57%-43%) but there was a fairly even number of shots, with United having seven (two on target) to Brighton’s six (one on target). However, the xG is where it heavily favours Brighton, as they put up an xG of 2.03 compared with United’s 0.80.
Brighton’s press caused United lots of problems in the first half, with Julia Zigiotti Olme, Tullis-Joyce and Maya Le Tissier all getting caught near their own box in the early stages.
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