Kerstin Casparij says City are full of confidence after booking our place in the Continental Cup quarter-finals with a deserved 2-1 win over Manchester United.

The defender played the full 90 minutes in Gareth Taylor’s side’s success at the Joie Stadium as we leapfrogged Marc Skinner’s side to Group B’s summit and into the knockout phase.

Following a goalless first half, Chloe Kelly opened the scoring with a venomous effort before the Netherlands international teed up Lauren Hemp for our second.

Although Nikita Parris halved our advantage in injury time, we held on for three vital points which delighted Casparij at full-time.

“I’m tired! It’s extra nice to do it [reach the quarter-finals] against United and go through, so I’m very happy,” she explained.

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“I know the space is there when we counter attack, I know that’s the space to go and run so once Ippa [Angeldahl] was driving forward and Chloe was wide, we’ve spoken about it so much, to do the underlap.

“For Chloe to wait and I shout ‘now’ and she passes it and this time I shot on goal instead of trying to cross it! So maybe, I should shoot on goal more. Hempo is always there.

“We’ve got lots of confidence and I think now we just see on the pitch what we’re training all week. We’re trying to keep the momentum and confidence.

“Even when we concede, you saw it against Liverpool, we keep trying to keep doing what we do and we ended up winning that game.

“I think we’re trusting in what we do and very confident.”

Ahead of City’s meeting with Manchester United at the Joie Stadium, Casparij visited the Manchester branch of The Donkey Sanctuary.

By the conclusion of her visit alongside Julie Blakstad and Ruby Mace, the trio had adopted Hector – one of the sanctuary’s animals.

Now, the Netherlands international admitted she’s still plotting his role in our squad.

She added: “I’m still debating whether Hector [the donkey] is coming, what his role is going to be. He can be the gaffer but I’m not sure if Gaz will be happy with that.

“He can be an assistant coach, we’ll find a good place for Hector.”

Watch Casparij’s full post-match interview on Matchday Live in the video player above!