For the third consecutive women’s Anfield Merseyside derby, Liverpool failed to score as they suffered their first WSL defeat of the season in front of over 23,000 supporters.
Liverpool Women 0-1 Everton Women
Women’s Super League (3), Anfield
October 15, 2023
Goals: Finnigan 31′
The Reds’ last win over Everton came in 2019 and their barren run against the Blues continued as they disappointing lost 1-0.
The game started in strange fashion when, within seconds of kick-off, Lucy Hope went down badly injured after a challenge with Missy Bo Kearns.
Upon the restart, Kearns thought she had put Liverpool ahead, but her goal was ruled out for an extremely tight offside decision as she raced away.
Local girl Kearns will have to wait until another day to make her dream a reality.
Three minutes later, the Reds again missed out by the tightest of margins as Ceri Holland saw her left-footed shot cannon off the underside of the bar, bounce on the line, then scrambled away.
After the early excitement, the game settled down and Everton began to create chances. Half an hour in, they netted the only goal of the game, thanks to a Megan Finnigan header from a corner that ‘keeper Rachael Laws will be disappointed to concede.
Megan Finnigan LOVES scoring in Merseyside derbies! ? pic.twitter.com/msrR9jdsVi
— Sky Sports WSL (@SkySportsWSL) October 15, 2023
The majority of the away support was situated in the lower Kop and their celebrations sparked loud boos from the rest of the stand.
On the hour mark, a quadruple substitution by Beard sought to change things, and it did to some extent. Mia Enderby was lively from the right but produced a terrible dive in the box, which she won’t want to watch back.
The WSL controversy over supposed time-wasting reared its head again, as Everton‘s Heather Payne was booked for taking her time as a throw-in. In reality, it was a standard amount of time to take. Bizarre.
Towards the end, the game became more frantic and Everton went close, striking the bar with five minutes left to play.
Liverpool then put the pressure on, going close on a couple of occasions, and the crowd picked up when six minutes of added time were announced.
They couldn’t make it pay though as Natasha Flint agonisingly skimmed the crossbar with a brilliant left-footed shot across goal.
A disappointing performance and result for LFC Women, who missed another opportunity to attract new supporters attending a match at Anfield.
Player of the match: Jenna Clark
Liverpool Women: Laws; Koivisto (Matthews 61′), Fisk, Bonner (Flint 61′), Clark, Hinds; Nagano, Hobinger, Holland; Kearns (Enderby 61′); Haug (Lawley 61′)
Subs not used: Micah, Parry, Taylor, Lundgaard, Daniels
Next match: West Ham (A) – WSL – October 22, 3pm (BST)
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