West Women registered their first ever win in the North West Women’s Regional Football League as they defeated City of Liverpool 4-0 at Brookburn Road.
There was one change from the team that had beaten Blackpool in the FA Cup with Emily Croasdale replacing the absent Vicky Kerr in midfield. There were three changes to the bench with Jess Hartley, Amayah Hanley and Lucy Clarke making their first West appearances.
West started brightly and were through in the game’s opening seconds but Sarah Baer blocked Leigh McFadyen’s effort. On 5 minutes McFadyen did well battling down the left and seeing her effort from a narrow angle fired just wide of the post. The early chances continued as Chaneece Reeve’s saw a hard shot parried away.
The chances continued as Reeve’s fired just over from the edge of the area on the turn after a flick on from McFadyen on 11 minutes. Two minutes later a lay off from Shauna Edmondson to Elizabeth Livesey saw her looping effort tipped just over the bar. Ellie Caddick forced the Liverpool keeper into another save from a long range free kick. On 18 minutes, a terrific ball down the right from Sophie Bracegirdle played in Livesey whose cross found Reeves but Baer again made the save.
On 19 minutes West came even closer still as Edmondson saw an effort cleared off the line after a defensive mix-up but McFadyen fired juts over seconds later. West were relentless but couldn’t make their chances count as Reeves headed over from a Livesey cross before McFadyen did the same, volleying over a lovely cross from Bracegirdle.
West came even closer still on 28 minutes when Livesey struck the crossbar from the narrowest of margins. Four minutes later Croasdale fired over a Cadick cross with the keeper beaten. Reeves then saw a low effort deflected juts wide of the post with the Liverpool keeper diving desperately to see it out of play.
Despite West’s dominance Liverpool had two great chances as Sophie Berry raced through but on both occasion’s, she failed to hit the target ensuring the score-line remained goalless at half time.
The second half was just four minutes old when West broke the deadlock as Livesey saw a rocket of an effort rebound off the underside of the crossbar with McFadyen on hand to bury the rebound. Two minutes later it should have been 2-0 as Bracegirdle’s low cross was tapped home by Livesey but after much deliberation the referee concluded the West striker was offside.
West continued to put their foot down on the accelerator as Bracegirdle fired an effort over before Edmondson headed wide from a Caddick corner. Reeves and Livesey both again went close albeit without troubling the keeper.
It was 2-0 just after the hour mark as Livesey struck the woodwork for a third time with a low shot rebound off the post for substitute Jami Hodges to react quickest and slot into the far corner. From there West never looked back as Livesey saw a looping effort fall just over the bar. On 63 minutes, it was 3-0 as the best move of the game saw Edmondson play a long one-two with Bracegirdle on the right before the West captain drilled home a wonderful curved effort into the bottom corner.
The onslaught continued even as West rang the changes which saw Edmondson’s header cleared off the line from a corner before Hodges saw her rebound cleared. Seconds later Caddick hit the crossbar not once but twice directly from a corner. Defender Lyndsey Turner went close with a chipped effort juts over the bar before a great cross from Edmondson found Hodges but she couldn’t turn her header towards goal. Substitute Debbie Price had an instant impact winning the ball at the edge of the area before forcing a good side from the Liverpool goalkeeper.
With two minutes remaining Claire Jefferson was called into action as she made a terrific block one-on-one from Liverpool’s Parry. It was Bracegirdle who had the final say on the game as she raced down the right from a pass by Price in stoppage time, spotting the goalkeeper off her line before lifting her shot over her for the second goal of the season and to cap off a terrific West performance.
