MANCHESTER UNITED manager Casey Stoney left Eastlands on Saturday wondering what could have been after her side narrowly lost to Manchester City.

Caroline Weir’s left-footed wonder strike from outside the box proved enough to take the points, but only after United, who dominated the first half for long periods, came agonisingly close to snatching a draw.

A record Women’s Super League (WSL) crowd of 31,213 packed Eastlands to witness the league’s first Manchester derby and Stoney’s United showed those in attendance that they will not struggle at this level — after winning the Women’s Championship at a canter.

Stoney said: “I’m really pleased with the players. We played some really good stuff and created some really good chances. They’re the fine margins at this level — if you don’t take your chances, you always leave the opposition in the game.

“I’m proud of the players. They tried to execute the game plan; we set out to come and have a go and we did that.

“I have to be extremely proud of these players and where they’ve come from in such a short space of time.”

There was a mix-up with the media when Stoney failed to turn up to her post-match press conference, leading some to believe she had taken the defeat badly and drawing inevitable comparisons to former men’s manager Alex Ferguson.

However, Stoney revealed to Kieran Theivam of the Athletic that it was just a “misunderstanding.”

City manager Nick Cushing conceded that his side had failed to reach the required level in a poor first period, but hailed Weir for a winning goal which he believes can pave the way for the 24-year-old to become “world class.”

“We’re pushing Caroline hard because she’s got incredible ability and she can be world class offensively.

“She sees things that other players don’t see,but she has to turn that into performances on a match day. I think she can contribute offensively for us because she can dictate the game.”

Cushing also had goalkeeper Elle Roebuck to thank after she saved brilliantly to deny Jane Ross before the break with the score level.

City then rode their luck when Jackie Groenen’s effort rebounded back off the base of a post and into Roebuck’s arms.

Both sides’ fans would have left the ground happy for two completely different reasons and Cushing added that he hopes to see these fans attend City’s WSL games on a regular basis.

“This team has had the chance to play in front of 45,000 on two occasions, but to play in front of 31,000 in our own stadium, we’re just really pleased to have repaid them with the win.

“This was an occasion for us to showcase the women’s team in a Manchester derby, but our home stadium is the academy stadium and hopefully we can drive a lot of those people there.

“We just want to see that crowd that we see in the Etihad Stadium week after week pushing the men’s team crossing over. We’re excited to see what happens with our crowds and where they go.”