The stumble down the final stretch continued on Saturday for Manchester United Women and manager Marc Skinner. His side drew 1-1 at home against Brighton & Hove Albion, rescuing a point with a stoppage-time goal from Lea Schuller but giving even more of a buffer for third-placed Arsenal. The Gunners have a one-point lead on the Reds in the final UEFA Champions League place and three games in hand over United. The Reds have only one match left to play against Chelsea.
The match on Saturday was a bit
more back and forth than some fans might have expected. United again lined up with Jess Park on the right wing and saw Ella Toone return to the starting XI up front alongside Melvine Malard. The Reds would control the majority of possession for the match, but Brighton found plenty of chances for themselves in decent stretches.
The Seagulls opened the scoring near the end of the first half through midfielder, Jelena Cankovic, and took a 1-0 lead into halftime. It wasn’t until the final 20 minutes that Skinner made major changes to the lineup, and the desperation led to an equalizer eventually.
Malard found space down the right and got a low ball across the box to slip by a defender perfectly for her German strike partner. Schuller fired across the goal with her first touch and found the bottom left corner for the score.
With European football out of reach, and five matches without a win, it’s hard to feel anything but frustrated with the end result of United’s season and Skinner’s management. The club recently refused to allow questions from The Athletic after an article pointing out the manager’s failures this season, and another recent report indicating the club hierarchy’s dissatisfaction with Skinner is currently the only shred of hope that something may be done in the summer.
Until then, it’s more of the same with the Reds on the outside looking in at the Top 3 once again.
