“Took it by the horns”: Skinner hails impact of Layla Drury in “epic” late Everton win | OneFootball

Manchester United boss Marc Skinner has praised the difference made by Layla Drury in the side’s 2-1 victory against Everton on Saturday.

Back to winning ways

Elisabeth Terland gave United the lead seven minutes before the break. However, the advantage was wiped out in the 90th minute when Inma Gabarro headed home.

It looked like United were on course for another frustrating draw, but Melvine Malard had other ideas.

The France international stole a march on goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan to nod in at the near post in stoppage time. Drury won the corner from which United grabbed the winner.

The win sent United back to second place in the WSL table, eight points behind league leaders Manchester City and one above Chelsea.

Skinner was buzzing after the final whistle as he hailed his players for fighting until the end. He reserved special praise for 16-year-old Drury, tipping the teenager to realise her sky-high potential.

Skinner’s remarks

Skinner said about Drury in his post-match press conference, “What I loved about her when she came on was she took the ball under control and ran at the opponent. She took it by the horns, ran and created the moment where we scored from, so I’m really impressed with her.”

“We love in the country to build players up and then destroy them. So for me, she’s at the right place to grow properly and look forward to all the things she can achieve.”

“She can be a fantastic player. However, she must do it properly and make sure she doesn’t skip any steps.”

Skinner added about the win, “I’d say it’s an epic win because if I took you through the week, we’ve lost the cup final which is devastating, everyone feels that. We then go away to West Ham midweek, don’t quite get over the line, get back at four o’clock on the Thursday morning, get up, come in to do an hour’s training session, because that’s all we can do with the squad size we have.”

“To be leading and to go [back to 1-1] late, which I thought was a good goal by Everton, but [the] very little they had in the game… and then to come and win it in the end, I think it’s an epic win with fantastic credit to the players.”

Skinner also heaped praise on Malard.

“I thought Mel was really lively down the side, I thought the right-back had a hard time against her.”

“Look, we could have been cleaner in some moments, we needed to keep it really simple and [we] hoped that [in] the second half, [we could start] creating the clear-cut chances we wanted to [create].”

“Honestly, I can’t be prouder of them, just because you have to add context into performance. We all want to score, we all want to create, but actually when they’re running as hard as they are against a fresh team, to do what they’ve done is fantastic.”

United are bracing for a big next few days. The Reds host Bayern Munich in the first leg of our UEFA Champions League quarter-final before turning their attention to Manchester City next weekend. Both games will be held at Old Trafford.

Skinner told reporters, “These are two great challenges. The City game in between [the two legs against Bayern], of course, as well at Old Trafford. Great, great challenges and something my team will look forward to.”

The United head coach gave injury updates on some of his players.

“Dom [Janssen] has a niggle, so I don’t know whether she’ll be back – I don’t know yet. And then we have Ellen [Wangerheim], who has a response in her shin from just the amount of games she’s had. So hopefully a couple of weeks [before she is back].”

“Hopefully we’ll welcome Jayde [Riviere] back on Wednesday, and hopefully Hini [Miyazawa], congratulations to her for winning the Asian Cup. Hopefully we can welcome her back into the squad [ahead of the games] coming up.”

Skinner credited midfielder Simi Awujo, who was brilliant against Everton.

According to the 42-year-old coach, Awujo’s adaptation from college football in America to the WSL has been wonderful.

He tipped Awujo to continue developing and reach greater heights.

Featured image Aitor Alcalde via Getty Images

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