(Football news) Everton kickstarted their Women’s Super League campaign with a fantastic 3-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield in front of a record 27,574 fans. The Reds, who had defeated reigning champions Chelsea at Prenton Park last week were left stunned when Megan Finnigan opened the scoring in the 9th minute followed by Jess Park doubling the advantage in the 33rd minute. Such was Everton’s dominance that Liverpool barely had a sniff of goal despite Megan Campbell’s dangerous long throws. 

The opening goal came when Finnigan headed home from close range after the set piece was flicked on by Lucy Graham. Liverpool had their first chance after 25 minutes when Everton defender Rikke Sevecke gifted the ball to Katie Stengel deep in her own half but the 30 year old American couldn’t hit the target. The Toffees then doubled their advantage when Nathalie Bjorn released Park who rounded Laws to find the back of the net. Liverpool’s Ceri Holland had a brilliant opportunity to reduce the deficit but couldn’t find the target after Everton failed to deal with a corner. The hosts finally scored their third when debutant Giovana helped put Park on a break. The forward played through Bennison who found the back of the net.

Speaking after the match, Liverpool manager Matt Beard said “I'm not going to use that [the crowd] as an excuse. We didn't start well enough. We looked scared, the passing was too slow and movement. We took extra touches and we knew we would be under a press, we practiced that all week. We had three or four really good chances and so did they. But they were the better team at the end of the day. You can't wait until half-time to get going again. Everton defended really well but we let ourselves down in key moments: possessions, movement, little reactions. We will learn from it. We took the plaudits last week, tonight will be a massive learning curve for us. The goals came from our own turnovers and a set play but at the top level you get punished. We didn't start well tonight and we caused our own problems. We will look back and learn from it." 

Everton manager Brian Sorensen said “I'm really happy. I think the girls did exactly what we've been training on. In a game like this to have the coolness and calmness to do well. Jess has been a bit sick last week. In pre-season she hasn't had the best ride so we are really lucky that she performed today and she was extraordinary. We are putting in a strategy in terms of how we want to play in a clear plan. The identity we want to show is really aggressive, our pressure was good today but we were composed. We saw the situation and we did not always have to send it long and chase it all the time. As soon as we win the ball, we can face forwards and break the line. That's what we struggled with in the last game and we were brilliant here.

"[Nathalie] Bjorn was brilliant today. It's important that our sixes control our game. They have to be on the ball so much for us to play really well. Aurora [Galli] and Bjorn played really well today. Both Gio and Benni came in with energy, that's what they can bring to the game for us. We celebrated a lot with the third goal. A lot can happen if they get a goal from a corner or a long throw-in but we really handled that well today. If we dominate on the ball, we will shut the spectators down. We did that coming into the second half. I knew they would come in with energy and do some subs. But we kept our calm and that was cool.

"That's what we have to work for. With the team we have with the offensive threat, we will score goals. But if we concede every time we will be on the back foot. It was great to keep a clean sheet, especially here. We binned last season and we're focusing on this season. Ten new players are coming in also me and the coaching staff so we don't look back and we look forwards. We are ready for Thursday against Leicester. Be ready then and then step up again and execute the game plan from the coming week. One game at a time."

In other results, reigning champions Chelsea overcame Manchester City 2-0 at Kingsmeadow Stadium with goals from Fran Kirby and a penalty by Maren Mjelde. The Blues were defeated 2-1 by Liverpool last week but bounced back effectively while City squandered a number of chances. Despite the visitors dominating the proceedings with 10 attempts at goal, it was Chelsea’s Fran Kirby who opened the scoring against the run of play in the 42nd minute. The hosts then went on to double their advantage when Leila Ouahabi was penalised for handball and the penalty was slotted into the top corner by Mjelde in the 78th minute, thereby securing the three points.

Speaking after the match, Chelsea manager Emma Hayes said “I felt we were lucky to go in 1-0 up, but sometimes you've got to do that and I thought our second half performance was what I was expecting from us, it was much more controlled, we dominated all areas. But in the first half, I thought we overplayed, we overdid it and went from underplaying a week ago to overplaying this week. We've got to find the balance, but it is the second game, I thought it looked like a second game of the season. 

“If you are going to give it against Millie Bright last week, then you are going to have to do it this week. The officials kept on saying to me that certain changes that have happened this year in terms of letting certain things go, but not the penalties, then it is a penalty. "We just need to find a rhythm, we've had a cancelled game, lost last week, I thought it was resilient from the team, I still think we can create a little more for the quality that we have. But it was a good day for the team in general." 

Man City boss Gareth Taylor said “I thought we had a great first half, dominated most of the game, had some good moments, and could have capitalised on a couple of those chances, some good saves obviously from Berger and she's not bad when you are taking shots from 20-25 yards. Disappointed to give the goal away, but it was full of positivity at half-time, we really got up to the ball, really engaged, and that probably took a little bit out of us for the second half. When you put a lot of energy into a game like that, naturally you are going to have a consequence of that. 

"It is a handball, but the ball is going over the bar. I don't know what the rule is regardless of where it is going, but that is not a shot on target, so you can make of that what you want. They are a good team, they are good on this patch, we knew it would not be easy coming here today, but we did not make it easy for them."

Also read: Netherlands beat Belgium while Denmark outperform France