Manchester City took nineteen shots at Charlton on Saturday and scored with the one that mattered. Alex Greenwood bent a free-kick over the wall and into the bottom corner ten minutes before half-time, and the defending champions left south London with a fourth straight Women's Super League win and, finally, a clean sheet.
Charlton made them work for it
Andree Jeglertz changed six players and left both Khadija Shaw and Lauren Hemp on the bench, which is the sort of team selection that looks either shrewd or careless depending entirely on the result. For most of the first half it looked careless. City had 79 per cent of the ball and did almost nothing with it against a Charlton side that sat deep, stayed narrow and refused to be pulled apart.
It took nineteen minutes for City to force a save, Sophie Whitehouse pushing away Mary Fowler's snap-shot after a Kerstin Casparij cut-back. Charlton were not simply defending either. Jodie Hutton struck one from a tight angle that Eartha Cumings, deputising for Ayaka Yamashita, had to tip wide.
The free-kick
Grace Clinton won a foul 25 yards out just as City's irritation was starting to show, and Greenwood did the rest. Cassandra Korhonen ducked in the wall, which will be replayed in the Charlton video session, though a strike placed that precisely does not really need any help.
It was Greenwood's first WSL goal since April 2024. She has been City's captain and steadiest defender throughout, and the goals were never the point, but on an afternoon when the forwards could not find a way through it was the centre-back who supplied the answer.
Charlton have a problem at the other end
The Addicks nearly got something. Korhonen headed a Hutton cross straight at Cumings late on, and Hawa Cissoko, back from suspension, escaped a penalty shout for a challenge on Beth Mead before twice blocking Shaw at close range. One attempt on target all afternoon, though. They have lost four from four, scored once and conceded ten, and their only goal this season came from a Hutton effort against London City that she spent Saturday trying to recreate.
Jeglertz was measured afterwards. "It is a good performance, we should have created more scoring chances," he said. "Sometimes the last pass was not there but there was also players who have not played together as much today." City keep winning and have now gone a match without conceding, which is what he wanted from an afternoon designed to give tired legs a rest.
Match facts: Charlton Athletic 0-1 Manchester City, Saturday 26 September 2026, Women's Super League. Scorer: Alex Greenwood, free-kick, ten minutes before half-time. It was Greenwood's first WSL goal since April 2024 and City's first clean sheet of the season. Substitutes used by City included Khadija Shaw, Yui Hasegawa and debutant Niamh Charles with 30 minutes remaining. City have won all four league matches; Charlton have lost all four.
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