Blues Fall To First-Ever WSL Anfield Defeat

Everton fell to their first ever defeat at Anfield on Sunday afternoon – the Blues falling to a 2-0 defeat to rivals Liverpool to halt their six-game winning streak across the park.

Beata Olsson broke the deadlock inside four minutes for the Reds, with Cornelia Kapocs completing the scoreline four minutes from time.

Prior to the fixture, Club captain Megan Finnigan and head coach Scott Phelan laid a wreath in tribute of Matt Beard – a pioneer of women’s football who managed Liverpool between 2012-15 and 2021-25.

The hosts opened the scoring with only four minutes on the clock as Olsson headed Natalia Ramos’ corner home.

The Blues responded well as Ornella Vignola, who scored a hat-trick in her last outing at Anfield, headed over the bar after meeting Hannah Cain’s lofted cross from the right ten minutes later.

Naomi Layzell threatened on 26 minutes after meeting Hikaru Kitagawa’s dipping corner with a header of her own. Grace Fisk did well to block her initial effort, with the defender firing the rebound wide on the volley.

At the other end, Courtney Brosnan did well to deny Jenna Clark a second for the home side two minutes later as the shot-stopper palmed away her header destined for the bottom left corner.

Cain came agonisingly close to restoring parity in the 33rd minute, the forward failing to keep her shot down. Rosa van Gool did excellently to win the ball deep inside the Reds’ half, before spreading it to Zara Kramzar. The Slovenian slipped the advancing Cain in on goal, who arrowed a strike inches over the upright.

Ruby Mace then saw a curling effort caught by Khiara Keating on the stroke of half-time after the midfielder cut in from the unfamiliar right flank.

Vivien Endemann then crept behind the Blues’ backline and fired at the feet of the outrushed Brosnan, with that concluding the opening 45.

The forward was in the thick of the action once more five minutes after the break as her rifled volley rattled the crossbar.

Phelan made his first change of the game a minute shy of the hour mark as Maz Pacheco replaced Cain.

The substitute almost made an instant impact as she nearly caught Keating out with a neat pirouette after latching on to van Gool’s pinpoint ball from the right.

Olsson would have doubled her tally on 68 minutes had it not have been for the rapid reactions of Mace. Free in the area, Olsson looked to place the ball and pulled the trigger. Out of no-where, Mace slid-in to bravely block; denying a certain goal.

Van Gool and Kramzar then made way for Yuka Momiki and Holly McNamara one minute later – Momiki fresh off the back of scoring and assisting against Birmingham City on Wednesday evening.

Mace made a second stunning block with 15 to go as Cornelia Kapocs beat Brosnan to the travelling ball. The winger nodded past Brosnan, who had evaded her line to collect. Thankfully, Mace was on hand to recover and avert the danger with a last-minute clearance yet again.

With 11 minutes remaining, Kitagawa and Hannah Silcock made way for Noemie Mouchon and Megan Finnigan - the French forward making her competitive Everton debut and the skipper playing her first WSL minutes in 609 days.

The Toffees almost salvaged a point in the 85th minute as McNamara burst forward. Found by Momiki’s perfectly-weighted ball, the Australian failed to beat Keating, who did well to narrow the angle.

That save proved to be crucial as Kapocs slotted home only seconds later. Layzell was out of luck as her strong tackle fell only in to the path of the awaiting forward, who made no mistake from close range to seal the result.