Points shared in 6 goal thriller
By Carly Baldwin After the WSL's opening night was marked by two low-scoring games, Liverpool and Everton served up a thrilling affair as points were shared in front of an attendance of 835 at Skelmersdale
Everton, going into the season as one of the favourites to claim to inaugural WSL title, started well and thought they had had the lead after just five minutes, but Natasha Dowie's goal was ruled out by a linesman's flag.
The visitors retained the upper hand, and Fara Williams twice linked up with Dowie, but Reds goalkeeper Andrea Worrall was equal to the striker's efforts on both occassions.
After a frantic opening 15 minutes, the home side came into the game and could have had the lead on the half hour. Neat interplay between Suzanne Lappin and Ruesha Littlejohn set the latter free, but she got the ball stuck under her feet and could only hit a tame shot which England goalkeeper Rachel Brown dealt with comfortably.
As an entertaining half threatened to end goalless, Dowie finally found a way past Worrall, heading into the roof of the net from Jody Handley's cross.
Everton almost doubled their lead just a minute later, but Worrall made a fabulous save to deny Handley after the Everton skipper latched onto a through ball and struck a half volley from the edge of the area.
Half time: Liverpool 0-1 Everton
The visitors started the second as they had begun the first, Toni Duggan first fired over after deceiving Nicky Twohig, then saw her goal disallowed for an earlier foul on Sam Chappell.
On the hour mark Duggan again produced a moment of magic, turning the Liverpool defence before firing over an inviting cross that Gwenn Harries could only slice well wide.
The Everton forward was left to rue that miss just a minute later, as Cheryl Foster latched onto a through ball and chipped a calm finish over Brown to equalise with Liverpool's first ever WSL goal.
Duggan then had a chance to restore Everton's lead, but saw her shot deflected wide. The visitors' disappointment didn't last long though, as they claimed a second on 71 minutes through Jill Scott.
Scott played Dowie through, and although her shot was well saved by Worrall, England midfielder Scott expertly tucked away the rebound.
Despite the bitter blow of falling behind for a second time, Liverpool showed great character and found themselves back on level terms almost immediately, through an unlikely scorer.
Full back Nicki Harding collected the ball on the corner of the penalty area and drilled in a shot that found it's way past Brown, who had only moments earlier produced an incredible save to deny Littlejohn.
With the game level going into the final stages, both teams pressed for the three points to get their season off to a perfect start, and it was Liverpool who thought they had claimef them on the stroke of full time.
Gemma Watson's corner was cleared as far as Lappin who then fired a shot into the six-yard box where Littlejohn pounced and shot past Brown into the top corner.
The goal sparked wild celebrations from the home fans, but Everton weren't to be denied a share of the spoils. Deep into injury time, Williams' free kick was deflected into the path of Dowie who made no mistake from eight yards out.
It meant a heartbreaking end to the game for the Reds, who had been within little over a minute of causing a huge shock and claiming a maximum points haul in their first WSL outing, but their overall display will give manager Robbie Johnson optimism for the season ahead.
Gutted does not cover how we all felt last night but we have a game on Sunday to get it out of our systems. We would have taken a draw before hand so we build in that.