Manchester United women’s goalkeeper, Mary Earps won the club’s first ‘Player of the Month’ award for the month of January, which was an award that was voted by the fans.
Earps beat her team-mates, Ona Battle, Hayley Ladd and Rachel Williams to win the award in what was a difficult choice for the fans to make as all four players had stellar performances in January.
United were unbeaten in the month of January, with Marc Skinner’s side picking up wins against Liverpool (6-0) and Reading (1-0) in the league before winning their fourth-round FA Cup tie against Sunderland 2-1.
⚙️ A vital cog in the United machine 🔥
After some outstanding performances, Mary is your January Player of the Month 👏#MUWomen || #WSL pic.twitter.com/k0twc1CGV3
— Manchester United Women (@ManUtdWomen) February 3, 2023
According to the club’s official website, the ‘keeper earned 34 percent of the vote to win the inaugural award [via Man United], which might come as a surprise to some given how well United performed against Liverpool for example, however, perhaps the most standout game from Earps was during the 1-0 win over Reading as she produced several saves to stop the Royals from scoring. Her best save of the game was arguably in the closing stages of the game as she produced a fine save from Justine Vanhaevermaet’s glancing header, which looked like it was heading into the back of the net.
The United keeper achieved a record-breaking 50th clean sheet in the win over the Royals, which made her the first ‘keeper in the WSL to achieve that milestone [via Man United].
Even though, she did not keep a clean sheet in United’s final game of the month, which was away to Sunderland in the fourth-round of the FA Cup, the England international played her part in helping United secure a 2-1 win and book their place in the fifth-round of the FA Cup.
Williams, who enjoyed a good month in January as not only did she score the winner against Reading in the WSL but she also scored against Liverpool and grabbed one assist, finished behind Earps with 27 percent of the vote. Ladd got 20 percent and Battle received 19 percent of the voting, which goes to show just how tightly contested the club’s first ‘Player of the Month’ prize was [via Man United].
