STING IN THE TALE, LAUREN
Hemp sparks City win with a scorpion kick
LAUREN HEMP surprised herself with a Scorpion-style finish that kick-started Manchester City late push for victory.
Gareth Taylor’s side were struggling to break Leicester down before Hemp produced an acrobatic volley to make the 82nd-minute breakthrough.
Her England team-mate Chloe Kelly then added a second to wrap up the win that strengthened City’s title charge.
Hemp did not think her goal was one to remember – before changing her opinion after seeing a replay on a phone screen.
The forward said: “To be fair, it looks better on here than I thought it did in real life. I thought it just trickled in but it’s actually a good finish.
“I just didn’t want to use my right foot to be honest, which is why I got round it like that. But it’s one to remember, isn’t it?”
But City boss Taylor was in no doubt about the quality of the strike that was set up by Khadija Shaw’s cross.
He said: “It was outstanding. It’s one of the best goals that I’ve seen. When I saw it in the moment, I didn’t realise how much she had to do in order to get that ball in the goal.
“I’ve just seen it from an angle behind the goal and it’s an incredible goal, it truly is.
“Of course she meant it, it’s a magical goal. When they showed me I was like ‘Wow! That is a world-class goal’.
“She’s the most humble person ever. I was more excited than she was when I saw her afterwards. We needed something like that, we had a couple of moments before then and the keeper made some good saves.”
He added: “We’ve not shied away from what we want to achieve.
“We know we’re going up against a really tough machine in Chelsea and we’ve seen what they’ve done over the past six or seven years.”
Kelly scored direct from a corner to clinch a seventh successive win for Taylor’s team who were in danger of dropping points in the title race before the late rally.