For Manchester City, Sunday was a case of remembering that pre-season is not all about results, as their tour of Australia ended in a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain. The Cityzens were the better side throughout and really took the game to one of Europe's elite teams, but regularly found outstanding goalkeeper Katarzyna Kiedrzynek in their way before Jennifer Echegini scored a late penalty to win the game.
Jess Park, Khadija Shaw and Laura Blindkilde Brown were among those in blue to be left frustrated by the excellence of Kiedrzynek in the first half of the final match of the Perth International Football Cup, the Poland international producing some fantastic saves to show that England star Mary Earps will have to be on top form to earn the No.1 shirt at the French club. Shaw had some frustration to direct the way of the referee, too, after seeing strong penalty appeals waved away following a clumsy challenge from Eva Gaetino.
PSG did start to get into the game towards the end of the first half, with Marie-Antoinette Katoto having a shot blocked, Sakina Karchaoui going close and Paulina Dudek prodding just wide after a corner turned into a goalmouth scramble. However, City remained the dominant side after the break, Kiedrzynek producing some more top saves to thwart Lauren Hemp and Shaw.
Echegini, though, gave the City defence plenty to think about after coming on at half-time. A good run down the right troubled the English side, even if her shot from an angle could only hit the side-netting, and young Naomi Layzell needed to position herself well to block a shot from the Nigeria international just before the hour, too. While her game-winning goal wouldn't come from any of this lively play, instead from a penalty conceded when Kerstin Casparij fouled Tara Elimbi Gilbert in the 86th minute, Echegini's cool conversion from 12 yards only added to her impressive performance.
There was a good chance late on for City to level the scores and take it to penalties, but Chloe Kelly's effort fizzed agonisingly wide just seconds before the whistle went for full-time.
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