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Jane Ross scored two first-half goals as Manchester City inflicted Notts County's heaviest defeat to stay top of the Women's Super League One table.

She poked home the opening goal from a tight angle before Jill Scott doubled City's advantage with a header.

Ross completed her brace before Georgia Stanway made it 4-0 at the break.

Steph Houghton's foul on Rachel Williams in the box allowed Jess Clarke to pull one back from the spot, only for Isobel Christiansen to add a fifth.

After Christiansen netted with a half-volley from 25 yards, the visitors went close to another when Tessel Middag saw her chip come back off the crossbar in the last of 11 minutes of injury time.

Both sides lost players to injury, as City defender Abbie McManus was stretchered off with an ankle problem and County's Fern Whelan left the field in a neck brace after a collision with Nikita Parris. The Magpies defender was quickly cleared of serious injury.

Victory ensured City maintained a one-point lead at the WSL 1 summit, with Chelsea - who have played a game more than the Sky Blues - temporarily going top earlier on Sunday following a 4-0 win over bottom side Doncaster.

Defeat left Notts sixth in the table with eight points from nine games.

Nott County Ladies manager Rick Passmoor: "We lost it in the first half, when you come to Meadow Lane you expect to face intensity, but we let Manchester City take the game by the scruff of the neck.

"We're disappointed and it's frustrating that the intensity we showed at the start of the second half wasn't there from the start.

"Today was not to our standard, we recognise other teams have stronger teams, but they usually have to come here and fight. Today, City didn't have to do that."

Manchester City Women striker Jane Ross: "We're very happy, it's always difficult to come here, but getting that early goal really settled us and we were able to go on from there.

"We performed really well in the first half, we were clinical with the chances we created and we worked on that. We went out with a game plan and executed it well."

Notts County Ladies: Walsh; Buet, Bassett, F Whelan (Krantz 71), Turner; Moore, Potter, Crichton (Luik 78); White, Williams (A Whelan 78), Clarke.

Substitutes not used: James, Hassall.

Manchester City Women: Bardsley; Bronze, Houghton, McManus (Stokes 63), Campbell; Walsh, Scott, Christiansen (Middag 78); Parris, Ross, Stanway (Duggan 84).

Substitutes not used: Hourihan, Corboz, Tynan, Toone.

Attendance: 1,627

Referee: Rebecca Welch