Ellie Roebuck makes Manchester City 'cup final' vow and opens up on World Cup dream

Manchester City goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck believes squad togetherness could be the key to finishing the season strongly in the Women's Super League.

It's been something of a transitional season for Gareth Taylor's side following a summer exodus of high-profile players. After a rocky start to the campaign, an impressive 14-game unbeaten run saw them claw their way back into the title race, toppling reigning champions Chelsea along the way.

That unbeaten run came to an end on Sunday at Meadow Park, where goals from Frida Maanum and Katie McCabe helped Arsenal come from behind to clinch all three points and leapfrog City in the table. While the result is undoubtedly a huge blow to City's title ambitions, the ability to respond to adversity has been one of the hallmarks of their season so far, and that resilient mentality could prove decisive heading into the last five games of the campaign.

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"We lost to Aston Villa and Chelsea at the start of the season and I know they weren’t great results but it probably helped us form that togetherness that we have now," Roebuck told the Manchester Evening News.

"Whenever we face a setback, we’ve been able to show really good character to come back. We lost at Arsenal in the Conti Cup semi-final earlier in the season and then the following week we played them again and showed that bit between our teeth. We want to win and we want to be competitive and bounce back when things don’t go our way."

She added: "I think, although we are a young group of players, we’re all very much on the same page. I think the team cohesion and all the other things that are important if you want