Thomas nets winner in pre-season victory over Manchester United

Martha Thomas’ second-half strike saw us conclude our pre-season programme with a 1-0 victory over Manchester United on Sunday afternoon at St George’s Park.

In our final friendly ahead of the Barclays Women’s Super League opener next weekend at home to Crystal Palace, it was a positive first-half performance from Robert Vilahamn’s side, with Thomas at the heart of many opportunities against her former side, but we weren't able to capitalise before the break.

We reaped the rewards midway through the second half as the Scotland international, at full stretch, fired the ball past Phallon Tulis-Joyce to net her third goal in six friendlies, before we defended resolutely for the remainder of the game to preserve our flawless run during pre-season.

In wet conditions at kick off at the Football Association's national football centre, Eveliina Summanen produced a fantastic block to deny a fierce strike from Lisa Naalsund inside the box while, at the other end, Thomas went close as she saw her effort deflected just wide of the near post after good work from Amanda Nilden to keep Ashleigh Neville’s cross alive.

We controlled large spells of possession in the opening quarter, Thomas providing a lovely flick down the left-hand side to set Hayley Raso through, but her attempted shot was closed down before Nilden fired over on the rebound.

Olga Ahtinen saw a long-range strike gathered by Phallon Tulis-Joyce, while our number 17 had two attempts in quick succession to break the deadlock, failing to convert from a tight angle before she was denied by a sliding Maya Le Tissier. Geyse carved out the final piece of the action in first half, but she failed to keep her shot down from inside the box.

Becky Spencer was called into to push Melvine Malard’s effort around the post just after the interval before Thomas was presented with a golden opportunity on the hour mark, Tullis-Joyce’s wayward pass fell kindly to her, but she blasted her shot over the bar.

However, just five minutes later, Thomas eventually opened the scoring as a lovely pass from Spence found the forward inside the box and, despite being at full stretch to beat Aoife Mannion, she placed the ball into the roof of the net.

Matilda Vinberg dragged her left-footed effort from the edge of the box wide of the far-post before a looping header from Luana Buhler landed on the top of the net as we pushed to double advantage but, at the other end, with United searching for an equaliser, we remained defensively strong to limit them to very few opportunities.

In all, it brings an end to a positive pre-season, six wins from six, back-to-back clean sheets, with eyes now on our 2024/25 season opener against Palace next Sunday – tickets still available to buy.