Manchester City maintained their unbeaten record against cross city rivals Manchester United as they drew 1-1 in the Women’s Super League on Sunday.

The fierce encounter saw a record 44,259 attendance at the Etihad with both sides playing out a pulsating second half.

Leah Galton had given the visitors the lead with a deflected effort into the bottom corner in the 27th minute before Laura Coombs headed in from Chloe Kelly’s cross from the right wing to restore parity just before the hour.

United almost snatch a win

United came close to snatch a late win but saw their appeals for a penalty waved away by the referee in the dying minutes.

It appeared that City defender Alex Greenwood had handled the ball as she fell on the box while nudging it to goalkeeper Alex Greenwood.

There was little that the referee Abigail Byrne would have done with the absence of VAR in the WSL.

United manager marc Skinner said, “I honestly haven’t seen it, I hear everyone on the bench screaming,” In all reality I probably want us to get ahead of that sooner anyway.”

Title race hots up

With the result United stay 3 points clear of their arch-rivals in the race for a Champions League berth.

Despite not winning, the away side would be content with a point after ending their run of three defeats out of three away trips across the city.

The Red Devils have bene in fine form this season performing above expectations and with only 2 points adrift of the top spot a title challenge is still in the running.

Chelsea still top the standings with 24 points from 9 games while Arsenal sit second and hot in their pursuit of the top spot.

City however, endured a poor start to the season with consecutive league defeats and exiting the Champions League in the qualification stage.

Gareth Taylor’s side are fourth on the table currently and the manager rued that his side should have played better with more control, “We should’ve dealt with the play better than we did. We gave them an opportunity.”

The contest an extra 13,00 people of the ground compared to last year’s fixture, that saw then league record 31,213 fans turning up to watch their favorite side take on each other.

There was also a huge crowd in the away section of the Etihad with United fans stretching up across Etihad’s three tiers in the south stand.

This fell just short of the Women’s Super League attendance record set by Arsenal earlier in the year.