Jess Park on settling in at Manchester United: “A work in progress” | OneFootball

New signing Jess Park made her first Women’s Super League start for Manchester United – and marked it with a goal in a 5-1 thrashing of newcomers London City Lionesses on Sunday.

“Frida set me up perfectly and I just managed to finish it off,” said Park to MUTV after the game.

The 23-year-old England international joined United on deadline day, making the move from local rivals Manchester City, and had already played in their UEFA Women’s Champions League third qualifying round first leg against SK Brann.

And she said she was settling in well after the cross-city switch – when Grace Clinton went in the other direction.

“I’m just trying to bring what I can bring, connect with the girls, I like to play close to people, bounce off them, bounce around them, play nice little balls to finish it off,” she explained.

“You can see it’s still a work in progress. I still need to get a bit cleaner, sharper, but it’s coming together nicely and I’m really happy with how it’s going.”

Jess Park: The fans will get us through it

She also wondered if London City Lionesses had expected less of a challenge from them, particularly following their midweek defeat to Brann, adding: “This team is a really strong team and maybe they underestimated us a little bit.”

But the comfortable nature of the scoreline sets United up well for the return fixture in Europe this week, knowing that they need a win to progress – and Park called on supporters to get behind the team.

“We have a big, big, tough game at home and hopefully the fans will get us through it,” said Park.

Marc Skinner: I wanted more goals

United head coach Marc Skinner said that his players “did an incredible job” – but felt it fell short of a perfect performance.

“I would want more goals in this game – I felt we created that – and then I want a clean sheet, that’s poor from us,” he said.

Nevertheless, he was pleased with the display and the result, revealing: “I asked them today to prove we can come back after defeat and go into a game and dominate it.”

Manchester United play SK Brann in the second leg of the third qualifying round of the UEFA Women’s Champions League on Thursday, at Leigh Sports Village.

Their next match in the WSL is on Sunday, 21st September, as they travel to the Emirates and face Champions League holders Arsenal.