Everton 0 Manchester City Women 1

Manchester City Women concluded the weekends games against Everton with a 1-0 win.

There is an old joke about playing football in the heavy rain, where the captain upon winning the toss chooses the shallow end. For Manchester City Women playing away at the Southport ground used by Everton Ladies this seemed quite apt.

There were areas of the pitch where the ball simply did not roll and came instead to a standstill in the puddles of rain. These were not ideal conditions in which to try and play a neat passing game.

Despite these challenges, City did try to do exactly that but the standing water made the left hand side of the pitch difficult to play upon.

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City scored the only goal of the game in the 7th minute as Captain Steph Houghton crashed home a low shot from a free kick. This was her first goal of the season and was a cracker to open her account.

Much like in the Men’s game yesterday, Everton seemed to raise their game after going behind. Luckily their play although direct, lacked any consistent kind of cutting edge.

Ultimately this was a game where City were strangely devoid of any real quality in the final third of the field. Shots bobbled around, strikers missed their chances and despite the undoubted efforts there were to be no further goals today.

Janine Beckie missed a lovely floated pass from Keira Walsh in the 29th minute. Pauline Bremer hit the post in the 30th. Tessa Wullaert hooked the ball wide of the post in the 34th minute.  In the 36th minute Bremer was again through on goal but fluffed her chance.

In the 40th minute good work from Caroline Weir released Beckie but she was unable to find a finish. Just before half time Aoife Mannion sprinted the length of the pitch and passed to Bremer who could not direct her shot.

The second half started much the same with chances for Bremer but Everton clawed their way back into the game. Everton then missed a series of chances before Bremer and Jill Scott then took turns to fire wide of the upright.

The last few minutes of the match became increasingly desperate as Everton searched for an equaliser, and City tried to counter. Bremer missed again, this time after a brilliant pass by the substitute Lauren Hemp. In the last minute of the game City had to clear the ball off the goal line to preserve the result.

City did well in these conditions to come away with a victory, making this their 10th consecutive victory over Everton. Sometimes even the best players can misfire but at least now there is a chance to regroup before the next match, and maybe even practice that finishing!