Gareth Taylor did not have to call upon Georgia Stanway as a stand-in goalkeeper in Manchester City’s 5-0 win over Aston Villa, but the winger was on hand to take the gloves if needed.
With Ellie Roebuck sidelined with a long-term injury and usual substitute Grace Pilling not available, Taylor had readied Stanway to take over in goal if Karima Taieb was forced to go off.
In the end, Taeib kept a clean sheet as Manchester City scored five second-half goals to get only their third win of the campaign and move above Villa in the table.
Taylor said: "A lot of people – me included – have come in for a lot of slack. We've got to rally around and support each other.
"There are exceptional circumstances and we know that we need to do better in a lot of areas but I think Karima has been thrust into a situation.
"We didn't have a substitute keeper on the bench today so we were readying Georgia [Stanway] for that moment if needed. Thankfully we didn't have to get to it.”
Stanway was instead involved down the other end of the pitch, netting City’s second after Caroline Weir had broken the deadlock having been frustrated by a defensively-minded Villa for the first 48 minutes.
The visitors’ floodgates then opened as strength in defence turned to frailty, substitute Hayley Raso pouncing on a poor clearance by Villa keeper Hannah Hampton to get her first goal in a City shirt.
Raso then turned provider to set up Lauren Hemp for Manchester City’s fourth less than a minute later before the Australian capped off a positive performance with her second goal.
Taylor added: "We've got faith in Karima. There was a lot of support from within here at the club to just try and help her as best as we can.
"For her to turn about today and come under a few hairy moments in terms of our build-up play and still play effectively I thought was great for her. To get the clean sheet for all of the team was ideal."
Manchester City bounced back from two bruising defeats going down 4-0 at home to Chelsea in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League last weekend before losing to derby rivals Manchester United in the FA Women’s Continental League Cup group stage on Wednesday.
To follow the action and sign up for The FA Player’s live Barclays FA Women’s Super League coverage visit womenscompetitions.thefa.com
