Liverpool 0 Everton 1
The pain of a goal being incorrectly ruled out for offside hurt Liverpool again, this time in the WSL, as the club’s women’s team’s poor losing record at Anfield was extended by Everton.
In the modern, Women’s Super League era, Liverpool are yet to avoid defeat at Anfield, having lost a cup tie to Arsenal here in 2013, before suffering home league games to Everton in 2019, 2022 and now again enduring an agonising loss on a crisp autumnal evening under blue skies in 2023.
And that was much to the delight of the Blue half of Merseyside’s fans celebrating in the Kop end at full-time, which in itself was an unusual sight, with away fans usually at the opposite end, but only two stands were fully opened for this fixture with a crowd of 28,033 and the Everton supporters were therefore situated in a corner of the hosts’ traditional home end. Add more pain for the Reds.
Is the weight of pressure of playing at Anfield having a negative impact on the Liverpool players, though? Manager Matt Beard certainly doesn’t think so. Instead, he felt they had been robbed by a mistake from the officials. Having made an energetic start, Liverpool thought they had gone ahead early on through Missy Bo Kearns but her effort was ruled out for offside. Replays showed her to have been on side.
“We had a perfectly good goal disallowed which is frustrating because it completely probably changed the dynamic of the game,” said Beard, whose team would have gone top with a win, said. “I don’t think we deserved to lose the game today, I think the officiating has had an impact on the result. I’m just sick to death of it to be honest and it’s not just me, is it? I think everyone says it.”
The game’s only goal came at the Anfield Road Stand, when an unmarked Megan Finnigan headed in from a corner in the first half. The Everton captain said after the game that, when she had won the coin toss, she had deliberately chosen to kick towards the Kop, towards the away fans, in the second half in case her team needed a late lift. That will have merely added to the frustration for the hosts, who long to experience the feeling of winning on this famous ground themselves.
The visitors’ skipper Finnigan, who also headed the opener in last season’s 3-0 victory on the same ground, said: “We’ve got a good record here and we definitely didn’t want that to come to an end today. I’m absolutely delighted and so proud of the girls.
“For us today it was almost like a six-pointer because we started the season so poorly [losing their first two league matches] and that was so disappointing, but there’s no better game than a derby to turn that around.”
Match details
Liverpool (3-5-2) : Laws 5; Clark 5, Bonner 6 (Flint 6, 60), Fisk 6; Koivisto 6 (Matthews 6, 61), Holland 6, Hobinger 6 (Lundgaard 6, 81), Nagano 7, Hinds 6; Kearns 6 (Enderby 5, 61), Haug 5 (Lawley 7, 61)
Subs not used: Micah (gk), Daniels, Parry, Taylor
Yellow cards: Hinds
Everton (3-4-1-2): Brosnan 6; Bjorn 6, Finnigan 7, Veje 7; Payne 6, Vanhaevermaet 6, Galli 7 (Holmgaard 6, 73), Hope 6 (Wheeler 7, 3); Bennison 6 (Olesen 6, 73); Sorensen 6 (Duggan 7, 73), Bissell 6 (Snoeijs 6, 56)
Subs not used : Campbell, Ramsey (gk), Wilding, Aherne
Yellow cards: Brosnan, Payne, Vanhaevermaet
Referee : Abigail Byrne (Suffolk)
Attendance: 23,088
WSL round up: Man Utd held by Leicester whilst Beth Mead’s return sparks comeback
Beth Mead returned to action after 11 months out to help inspire Arsenal to a dramatic late comeback at the Emirates as they scored twice to stoppage time to beat Aston Villa 2-1.
The England forward, who suffered an anterior cruciate ligament knee injury last November, made her long-awaited return from the substitutes bench with two minutes of the normal 90 remaining, with her side trailing and on course for a second consecutive home defeat. Within minutes though, she provided the assist for Alessia Russo’s winning goal and the mood around the Emirates was totally transformed.
That late fightback marked the end of a much more arduous, lengthy recovery for last year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year award winner, who had to watch on from the other side of the world as the Lionesses reached this summer’s World Cup final as she continued her rehabilitation.
It didn’t take long for Arsenal fans to see what they’d been missing. Mead wriggled into the penalty area to roll the ball into the path of Russo, who fired in her first league goal for the club to win it, moments after Katie McCabe had lashed the equaliser into the roof of the net. Maz Pacheco had earlier headed improving Villa in front from a first-half corner, but Carla Ward’s side ultimately have no points from their first three fixtures.
Earlier, Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw by Leicester City, who remain unbeaten and moved onto seven points from a possible nine as Aileen Whelan’s goal was cancelled out by a Maya Le Tissier header, three days before Manchester United’s crucial Women’s Champions League qualifying second leg away at Paris Saint-Germain.
Manchester City’s own impressive start to the season continued as they hit five goals past newly-promoted Bristol City, who are bottom, while Grace Clinton’s long-range strike helped Tottenham pick up
a third straight victory in all competitions as they came from behind to deservedly win 3-1 at Brighton.
