Manchester City made it five consecutive WSL wins by beating Everton at Walton Hall Park on Saturday afternoon, putting pressure on Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal ahead of them.
Khadija Shaw continued her excellent start to the season with the decisive City goal early in the second half, after Everton defender Rikke Sevecke had cancelled out Julie Blakstad’s opener.
Emily Ramsey had made an incredible save with just 25 seconds played. The Everton goalkeeper on loan from Manchester United denied Chloe Kelly a certain goal from close range at the far post after good work down the left from Laura Coombs and Shaw.
City were dominant, particularly on their left flank. But there was weakness when Yui Hasegawa was caught on the ball a couple of times early on. One of those led Aurora Galli to whistle the ball just past the post with Everton’s first meaningful attack.
The tightest of offside calls chalked off a would-be opener from Shaw, while Blakstad probably should have done better in acres of space when cutting in from the left. But Everton had certainly grown into the game by the time City broke the deadlock half an hour in.
Blakstad’s goal was clinical from the visitors. Shaw beat the attempted offside trap to latch onto Leila Ouahabi’s through ball, opting to square to Blakstad to the right for an easy finish.
City would have hoped to pull away after that but were undone by a set-piece in the closing stages of the first half when they failed to clear a corner and Sevecke bundled the ball in from close range.
But Sevecke was having major trouble with Shaw going the other way. She had lost the City star a couple of times in the first half and was chasing shadows again straight after half-time when Shaw drove at the Everton defence – the resultant low shot was well saved by Ramsey.
City were back in front soon after, though. Galli gave it away cheaply on the edge of the Everton penalty area, leading Coombs to try her luck. That speculative shot hit the post, but Shaw reacted quicker than the defenders around her to turn in the rebound.
Everton again tried to fight back as they had done after going 1-0 down. But, somehow, City didn’t get a third goal in a bizarre melee at the hour mark. First, Sevecke cleared one off the line, before Ramsey got away with a clanger when she dropped the ball onto the post. Kelly’s acrobatic attempt sent the ball back goalward, with Blakstad heading onto the bar from a yard out.
Half-time substitute Aggie…
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