The mental and physical break she received while skipping Matildas duty appears to have done Mary Fowler the power of good as she returned to action for Manchester City with a superb goal in their 4-0 trouncing over Leicester.
Fowler had decided to pull out of the national squad for the recent internationals against Brazil and Taiwan, explaining she needed "to take this time to prioritise recovery in order to refresh both mentally and physically, so that I can continue to put my best self forward for both club and country".
What an effort from Mary Fowler! ðŸ'¥
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— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 8, 2024
The 21-year-old, who had had a tough schedule with City, did travel to Australia during that period to refresh, and she looked back at her sharpest as City hammered one-from-bottom Leicester with a first-half double from Khadija Shaw, with goals from Jess Park and Fowler after the break.
On a miserable day in Manchester, Fowler's clincher just before the hour mark warmed up proceedings, as the ball wasn't properly cleared by the Leicester defence and she swivelled to hammer a sweetly struck volley past helpless German keeper Janina Leitzig.
It was Fowler's second league goal of the season to go with her two Champions League goals.
City's win did little to help them in their seemingly fruitless pursuit of leaders Chelsea, who made it nine wins out of nine with a 4-2 win over Dario Vidosic's Brighton, equalling the record for consecutive wins at the start of a WSL season set by Arsenal on 2018-19.
Ian Chadband - AAP
