Everton Women faced Reading Women who were yet to pick up a point in the WSL this season, but with the Toffees not convincing many that they could break the top 3, could they drop more points against Kelly Chambers’ side? We find out how they fared in the match report below.
STARTING LINEUP
Reading Women starting XI: Monoley, Woodham, Evans, Cooper, Bryson, Harding, Vanhaevermaet, Chaplen, Dowie, Eikeland, Rose
Everton Women starting XI: MacIver, Turner, George, Sevecke, Maier, Christensen, Galli, Dali, Duggan, Anvegard, Emslie
The Royals were looking to avoid a 10 match winless streak, but with Kelly Chambers’ side featuring in this season’s race to relegation, you could see why many weren’t tipping them for a shock win. Kelly Chambers made 2 changes from the 1-0 loss to Spurs, with Chloe Peplow and Emma Harries both on the bench. However, a lot more discreet switches were made, such as Brooke Chaplen moving back into midfield, Natasha Harding also moving into a central position and Natasha Dowie moving out wide. Kelly Chambers is ready for the match, with the former Reading player saying after the defeat to Spurs, “But now we go again, prepare for Everton, and people have got to stand up, pump their chests out and be ready for the challenge ahead. One thing we can take from this today is we all need to show our character, to bounce back, and put in a good performance in front of our fans.”
Everton were looking to make it back-to-back WSL wins, after a 3-1 win against Birmingham in late September. The Toffees started their season with consecutive 4-0 losses, but bounced back with an assured win against Birmingham City. 2 changes was also the call for Willie Kirk’s side, with Grace Clinton and Nathalie Björn both left out of the starting 11. Valerie Gauvin stays on the bench, with the former Montpellier striker not starting a match for the Blues since February this year. Bizarrely this is due to stylistic choice, with Everton manager Willie Kirk stating, “She is a goalscorer who can score when coming from the bench, she is capable of that but it is just about how we utilise her now and decide whether we need that type of striker to start the game or finish the game. She came on in the 82nd minute on Saturday and she got the one chance and hit the bar from it. I think she was flagged offside but it was debatable so you can see in that short space of time how dangerous she can be.”
MATCH REPORT
ANNA ANVEGÅRD (Reading 0-1 Everton)
Everton went 1-0 up in the first few minutes, with the Toffees starting the match as they meant to go on. Claire Emslie carried the ball from Everton’s box to Reading’s, and whipped in a ball at the back post which landed at Anvegård’s feet. A tough pill to swallow for Reading after starting on the front foot-.
CLAIRE EMSLIE (Reading 0-2 Everton)
The provider turned into the scorer for Everton, with Claire Emslie setting up the first for Anna Anvegård, and scoring the second for them too. Izzy Christiansen picked up the ball, held it well, allowing Emslie to finesse her shot into the top corner of the Reading goal.
DANIELLE TURNER (Reading 0-3 Everton)
Despite being well into injury time and on the brink of halftime, Everton showed Reading no mercy, with Danielle Turner scoring Everton’s third of the afternoon in the 54th minute of the match (45+9). A brilliant freekick from Turner saw Everton go into the break 3 goals ahead of Reading.
HALF TIME
It was a fabulous first half for Everton, with the Toffees looking assured in defence and deadly in attack. Everton controlled the match, with Reading barely able to get a shot away, even if you didn’t know the score, you’d be confident that Everton were the team with the lead. A not-so-great half for Reading, however, with the Royals doing everything that Everton have done poorly. They’ve had a shocking defence, their attack has been non-existent and their team hasn’t been cohesive, so in summary, it’s been a mess for the Royals.
FULL TIME
A solid performance from Everton but considering it was against another weak side in Reading, it wasn’t a test of skill, but instead something even more important, consistency. They have shown consistency today, with a style becoming clearer for the Toffees. In both matches, Everton held the majority of possession, had around a 30% shots on target/shots ratio, and took more shots than the opponent. This is good for Willie Kirk, as a playable style is the basics to have a winning side (if you don’t have a foundation, how are you going to build?). Also, a quick note to let you know that Izzy Christensen’s penalty was saved by Grace Moloney in the second half, after being brought down in the box by Chloe Peplow. Overall, a good match from Everton’s side, and more pain for now bottom of the table Kelly Chambers.
