Toko Koga and Bethany England were on target as we came from behind to defeat Liverpool 2-1 on Sunday afternoon to return to winning ways in the Barclays Women’s Super League.
Making her ninth consecutive start of the season, defender Koga was in the right place at the right time, following excellent work by Olivia Holdt, to net her first goal for the Club just eight minutes after Beata Olsson fired the away side into the lead at Brisbane Road.
In a game of few chances, we needed to make the most of our opportunities and Bethany England did just that seven minutes after the break, firing us into the lead with a clinical finish from inside the box after a low cross from Amanda Nilden – her first goal in the WSL since our opening day victory over West Ham United.
A professional display from then on saw us hold onto that lead and take all three points to secure our fifth win of the campaign - already matching our haul from the entirety of last season. The result also sees us leapfrog Arsenal and move into fourth.
Our captain was one of two changes to the side that faced Birmingham City last time out, with Drew Spence also returning to the starting XI, while Liverpool’s Head Coach Gareth Taylor switched it up with four changes – Faye Kirby, Risa Shimizu, Lily Woodham and Olsson all coming in – and the latter was influential in opening the scoring on 11 minutes after a strong start by the visitors. Grace Fisk’s low cross was not dealt with and Olsson was there to sweep the loose ball home from close range. Lize Kop was called into action shortly after the goal, getting down low to deny Ceri Holland from the edge of the box but, eight minutes later, we were back on level terms in the contest.
A corner-kick routine saw Eveliina Summanen play a low ball to Holdt on the edge of the box, she advanced to the byline on the right inside the box before lifting the ball over goalkeeper Kirby and Koga was there on the line to tap home from point-blank range. Hold started to pull the strings in midfield after our leveller as she teed up Spence inside the box but her first time curling effort went over while, at the other end, the Reds remained a threat when Olsson fired wide from a tight angle. However, in the fifth minute of injury time, Liverpool’s stopper Kirby had to be alert to dive to her right to push Spence’s header around the post after the midfielder connected to Amanda Nilden’s cross from the left.
We looked for a quick start after the restart and seven minutes into the second period, we completed the turnaround in the game to take the lead. Holdt started the move with a lovely ball out wide to Nilden who then sent a low cross from the left side of the box to England in the centre and our captain made no mistake, calmly slotting away into the top corner for her second goal of the season. Holdt fired a first time volley from the edge of the box straight into the hands of Kirby before Clare Hunt’s lofted effort from Nilden’s corner on the right landed on top of the netting as we dominated the proceedings after our goal but we were just unable to extend our advantage before entering the final stages of the encounter.
Many would assume that would create a nervy end to the contest, which saw a stoppage time of around 20 minutes after Mia Enderby was stretchered off with a neck injury, but in truth, we were rarely threaten by the visitors. Although Cornelia Kapocs went close with an effort from the left of the box in the 17th-minute of stoppage time, we held on to return to winning ways in the WSL and make it 15 points in seven league games, lifting us back above Arsenal who won earlier in the day.