Man City suffer serious blow to WSL title ambitions after shock loss to Liverpool

Manchester City’s WSL title ambitions were all but scuppered after a shock 2-1 loss to mid-table Liverpool on Sunday.

The Reds, invigorated by a close run-in with reigning champions Chelsea in midweek, dealt Gareth Taylor’s side a similarly early dose of pressure and saw their eager energy rewarded as Natasha Dowie exploited a lapse from Laura Coombs to open the scoring before Miss Bo Kearns cancelled out Lauren Hemp’s equaliser shortly after the interval.

Despite persistent attempts to mine an equaliser, with Hemp striking the underside of the crossbar late on, the efforts proved futile as Liverpool claimed all three points at Prenton Park and dealt City a second loss in their last four league matches.

The result leaves City six points adrift of Manchester United at the top of the WSL table at 50 points with just two fixtures remaining in the season. A clash against United next could potentially overturn their title fortunes if Taylor’s side can emerge victorious, but with a heady title race already in full swing and Chelsea and Arsenal touting games in hand, City will have to rely on favours elsewhere if they hope to keep their title hopes alive.

And Taylor admitted post-match that the off-colour performance from his side was nothing more than an aberration but refused to rule out City in the title run-in despite the ostensibly fatal blow.

“We were just off it a bit today,” he said. “It’s about holding your nerve. We know there’s only so many places for the Champions League.

“Nerves are understandable, but we could still have controlled the play a little better than we did today.

“We’re still not out of it yet, there could still be a bit of movement. We just have to go and win our last two games. It’s as simple