Manchester City Women 2, Everton Women 1
Lauren Hemp scored what turned out to be the winning goal as Manchester City edged past Everton to take top spot in the WSL.
Everton have never beaten City in the WSL before and they showed no sign of changing that statistic in the first half after Khadija Shaw scored the opening goal.
City doubled that lead through Lauren Hemp but rather than an expected goal avalanche against the makeshift Toffees defence City instead conceded a surprising goal to Hanna Bennison which made for a slightly nervous finale despite City’s overall dominance.
City were only behind Chelsea on goals scored and the ability to rack up more goals than their title rivals could well decide the fate of this year’s WSL title.
This was a game that City dominated and should have won by a wider margin but in the end they were happy to come away with the three points after the Toffees showed they could still surprise their hosts.
City were lining up for shots on goal early on without directly threatening the injury hit Everton defence, Courtney Brosnan didn’t have too much to challenge her in the visitors goal.
Everton had four midfielders and a left back in their defence after Toffees manager Brian Sorensen was forced to improvise, and could do little to stem the flow of City attacks.
Justine Vanhaevermaet, one of the midfielders who had been drafted in as an emergency defender, blocked a Kerstin Caspari shot as City upped a gear but Everton could not stop the City onslaught and inevitably Khadija Shaw was left one on one with the Brosnan and scored the opening goal after Vanhaevermaet was caught trying to bring the ball out of the Everton box.
Brosnan was given a stern test after that as City tried to capitalise on their lead with chances by and Leila Ouahabi and Lauren Hemp.
But City could not get that second goal and in injury time Khiara Keating handed the only Everton shot of the half to Rikke Madsen – passing the ball straight to her – but saved the tame shot by the Danish forward who was surprised by the gift wrapped chance.
Madsen was replaced by Martina Piemonte at the break and she gave Keating a different challenge, forcing a saved from Keating soon afterwards.
Shaw headed over the bar as City re-asserted themselves with a goal by Lauren Hemp who curled the ball round Brosnan after a 1-2 with Laura Coombs.
Everton rallied and tried to apply some pressure to City who looked a bit distracted after the goal and Hanna Bennison pulled one back with a dipping long range effort that went in off the cross bar.
Shaw headed a Greenwood corner onto the roof of the net as City tried to restore their lead, Kelly went down in the box but the referee waved away claims for a penalty and Brosnan caught a Hemp cross in the following seconds.
Emma Bissell replaced Aurora Galli after 68 minutes for the visitors.
Kelly’s fierce shot was blocked by Vanhaevermaet and although there was no further action taken replays showed a potential handball as the Everton player raised her hands instinctively.
Mary Fowler replaced Kelly while Toni Duggan replaced Heather Payne for the final stages as the game became tighter despite City’s dominance of the final quarter.
Fowler shot wide and saw another effort tipped away by Brosnan before sending in an injury time cross just in front of Shaw as chances became rarer with City content to sit back and protect their lead.
Embed from Getty ImagesPLAYER RATINGS – Manchester City Women 2, Everton Women 1
Khiara Keating: 7. Neat passing when call on but poor pass out of defence in first half injury time found Rikke Madsen who couldn’t make use of the gift wrapped chance. Upped her game after Martina Piemonte came on.
Kerstin Casparij: 7. Had an early effort blocked and worked hard down City’s right flank.
Laia Aleixandri: 7. Great partnership with Alex Greenwood. Had a different challenge after the arrival of Martina Piemonte.
Alex Greenwood: 7. Superior in defence, pushed up high.
Leila Ouahabi: 7. Close range shot wide with the goal at her mercy, played a few good defence splitting passes and crosses too.
Yui Hasegawa: 7. Early shot just wide. Good positional play in midfield, covering gaps as other players raided forward.
Laura Coombs: 7. Good understanding with Lauren Hemp, went close with shots a couple of times and pressed high.
Jess Park: 8. Doing all the Jill Roord things well. All round good performance. Slick movement and rode the tackles in midfield while trying to create chances.
Chloe Kelly: 7. Challenging set pieces and crosses into the box, flair on the ball and shots on goal too.
Lauren Hemp: 8. Dangerous crosses from the left. Denied a couple of times by Courtney Brosnan but scored a vital curling effort in the second half. Dropped deeper at times too.
Khadija Shaw: 8. Focal point for the City attack and scored after just 15 minutes following a mistake by makeshift Everton defender Justine Vanhaevermaet. Continued to trouble Courtney Brosnan with shots and also created herself a chance in the second half with a solo run.
Mary Fowler (on for Chloe Kelly, 79): No time to mark.
GOALS – Manchester City Women 2, Everton Women 1
Man City Women 1, Everton 0: 15. Khadija Shaw slotted past Courtney Brosnan to open the scoring
Man City Women 2, Everton 0: 55. Lauren Hemp had options but chose to curl the ball round Courtney Brosnan from the edge of the box and into the bottom corner.
Man City Women 2, Everton 1: 60. Hanna Bennison turned and tried a looping long shot from outside the box which went in off the crossbar beating Khiara Keating.
MATCH STATS – Manchester City Women 2, Everton Women 1
Man City Women: Keating, Casparij, Aleixandri, Greenwood (C), Ouahabi, Hasegawa, Coombs, Park, Kelly (Fowler 79), Hemp, Shaw
Man City Women Subs not used: MacIver, Stokes, Angeldahl, Morgan, Pritchard, Blinkilde Brown, Mace, Kennedy
Goals: Shaw 15; Hemp 55
Everton Women: Brosnan, Hope (C), Vanhaevermaet, Stenevik (Hobson 90+2), Kuhl, Wheeler, Bennison, Galli (Bissell 68), Payne (Duggan 83), Snoeijs, Madsen (Piemonte 46)
Everton Women Subs not used: Hart, Dale
Goal: Bennison 60
Referee: Lauren Impey