Eva Olid Sees Signs of Progress as Manchester United Women Draw Derby

Manchester United Women’s 1-1 derby draw offered Eva Olid evidence of progress and a reminder of what her side still needs to fix. Elisabeth Terland’s late equaliser rescued a point against Manchester City, but Olid felt United had created enough to win.

City had led through Khadija Shaw’s second-half goal at the Progress With Unity Stadium in Leigh. Terland responded from close range in the 89th minute, leaving Olid with mixed feelings after her first Manchester derby as United head coach. In comments published by the club, she said: “We wanted to win and I think we showed today that we really wanted to win this game, and I never say this, but today we really deserved to win, and now it’s a mix of feelings. But football sometimes is unfair.”

United made chances count late

United pressed their advantage after the break, but couldn’t turn that spell into a lead. Terland was denied twice by City goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita around the 55th minute. Soon after, Jess Park, facing her former club, struck the crossbar with a dipping effort, according to the club’s match report.

Olid saw the missed opportunities as a finishing problem, not a failure to create. “It’s more about us and that we didn’t score our chances. We create and we had the chances, it’s just that we didn’t put the ball inside the goal,” she said. Her answer was repetition: “training, training, practice, practice, practice”.

At the other end, United had largely contained Shaw until one opening proved enough. Captain Maya Le Tissier had kept the striker quiet for much of the match, but Shaw scored on her 100th Women’s Super League appearance, as Sky Sports reported.

“Of course we plan to mark her, be close to her so she can feel the pressing, but still she has one ball in the box and she scores, that is what top players do,” Olid said.

A five-match run after a difficult start

The draw leaves United unbeaten in the league across five matches, a marked change from defeats to London City Lionesses and Chelsea at the start of the campaign. Olid has described candid discussions after the 5-0 loss to Chelsea as a turning point. She revisited that work after the derby, recalling “a lot of honest conversations in that moment about what we can do to change this, and how we can connect.”

She called the derby “one of our best performances in general in terms of fight, hard work, how we were pressing”, while acknowledging that United still have room to improve. “Still we need to keep improving, but today there were moments that I could see how we want to play. It’s a good point today, building from here, forward.”

City’s winning streak ends

The result also changed the picture at the top of the table. City’s six straight WSL wins had given them a perfect record; after Chelsea came from behind to beat Crystal Palace, the teams are level on points, with City second on goal difference.

United now have a quick chance to build on the performance: Burnley visit Leigh on Wednesday evening for the Subway Players’ Cup. For Olid, the point matters most as evidence that the team’s pressing and effort are beginning to match the style she wants to see.

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