A depleted Manchester City side visited the Leigh Sports Valley as they took on rivals, Manchester United, in the first Manchester Derby of the WSL season.
The opening goal came from the Blues with a close-range header from Khadija Shaw before Lucy Staniforth equalised with a cleverly worked corner and slotted the ball home.
The Red Devils turned it around as Alessia Russo put the side ahead with a low driven shot, holding off the City defence.
An action-packed game was capped off with Ellen White’s equaliser after Jessica Park’s long-range effort was pushed onto the bar by Mary Earps.
Man City started off positively, dominating all areas of the pitch, but United had Earps to thank after producing a series of wonder saves.
Minutes later, Maria Thorisdottir came to the Reds safety with a goal-line clearance after Lauren Hemp headed the ball goal bound.
After already losing key players to injury, City found themselves losing another after Georgia Stanway caught Leah Galton with a reckless challenge before seeing red.
Down to 10 players, City continued to push for the opener before Demi Stokes placed a pin-point cross onto the head of Shaw, putting the side 1-0.
The Blues had the upper hand at half time as they led 1-0 but United held the advantage after having all 11 players on the pitch.
United began the half looking for the equaliser before Ella Toone struck the ball towards the top corner, forcing Karima Benameur to produce a quality save.
With less than 20 minutes to go, Hannah Blundell played a short corner to Toone and picked out substitute Staniforth at the near post, who flicked the ball into the bottom corner, equalising for the home side.
Three minutes later, United found themselves in the lead after Blundell played a first time cross into the path of Russo, who slotted the ball into the bottom corner, scoring her first Derby goal.
The lead was short lived with White tapping in the equaliser after Park’s long-range effort was pushed onto the bar and fell directly into the path of the England international.
The England goal scorer rescued the point for City, as the home side felt it was a missed opportunity to take all three points and continue their winning form.
Speaking after the game, the Red Devils’ boss Marc Skinner admitted “it’s a missed opportunity in terms of getting three points, it’s a step forward in terms of mentality and experience together."
He believes there’s “a tinge of disappointment” after his side found themselves 2-1 up with the away side also down to 10 players.
Despite this, the manager looked at the positives and said: “to come back - regardless of how many players they had - you still have to unlock a deep block and we did that twice.”
Manchester City’s player of the match, Lauren Hemp, spoke to BBC Sport after the match and praised the team for “the fight and determination throughout the game”.
After three consecutive losses, Hemp was hopeful that the game has become “the turning point” the team needed and hopes to continue this into the next set of fixtures.
City manager, Gareth Taylor, praised his team for showing “great spirits” after going down to 10 players.
"We looked fairly comfortable, then to go behind like we did and fight back was obviously fantastic. We need to use that and build on that. We know that we're capable."
Both teams now play their next WSL fixture on Sunday, November 7 as Manchester City travel to the King Power Stadium to face Leicester and Manchester United visit the Hive Stadium to face third place Tottenham Hotspur.
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