In an eventful clash, the England Under-19s international’s outstanding performance at the Joie Stadium was a consistent throughout.
After deservedly taking the lead through Chloe Kelly’s thunderbolt, our momentum was stunted when Alex Greenwood was sent off for apparent time-wasting, resulting in her second yellow card of the first half.
And our task was made even harder when Lauren Hemp was dismissed after the interval for two bookable offences.
As Emma Hayes’ side applied immense pressure in the pursuit of an equaliser, Keating produced a string of terrific saves to keep them at bay in a display which was beyond her teenage years.
Indeed, she was unfortunate to see the ball bundled into the net deep into stoppage time after she made a phenomenal save to deny Millie Bright’s header before Reiten equalised.
And Taylor paid special tribute to City’s keeper after full-time.
“She was great. She’s very good to work with, we have three different types of goalkeepers who all bring different things,” he declared.
“What we’ve seen in pre-season and games is Khiara does a lot of good things, area, saves, good with hands, comes from crosses, distribution.
“She was top and you know when down to nine the FGK will be busy. Quick off her line, slowed it down, she’s young and will make errors but is great to work with and her performance was brilliant today.”
Keating has been given the starting place between the sticks in our opening two WSL assignments – a 2-0 win at West Ham before Sunday’s draw with Chelsea.
The 19-year-old’s performances in 180 minutes of action highlights the quality Taylor has at his disposal in the goalkeeping department.
And the boss explained all three of his shot-stoppers have an important role to play as the season progresses.
He added: “We have three good goalkeepers who all bring different things, we highlight the opponents we play and we’ve been working with Sandy and Khiara in preseason with Ellie at England.
“It’s about getting them up to speed but all three are really well thought of. Outfield players over two goalkeepers people make assumptions but I’m pleased with the three goalkeepers, they bring qualities.
