West Ham: Ueki 57’ Csiki 68’
Liverpool: Enderby 59’, Olsson 87’
Pre-Match
The Liverpool FC Women had a quick turnaround after a truly abysmal performance on Thursday in a 3-0 loss at Aston Villa. Gareth Taylor and the Reds are still looking for their first win of the table, and have a chance to get out of the relegation spot if they were to pick up three points against West Ham.
Liverpool make two changes to the side that played on Thursday. Ceri Holland and Gemma Bonner are both fit enough to start, replacing Leanne Kiernan and Gemma Evans. Gareth Taylor is still missing
a large contingent of players, including Grace Fisk, Rafaela Borggräfe, Risa Shimizu, and Sam Kerr. That’s without mentioning the crew out with ACL injuries.
First Half
Jenna Clark gives away a free kick in the opening 30 seconds after clattering a player near the right touch line. West Ham swing in the free kick and it takes Liverpool a few tries to clear the ball, but they eventually do so. That sequence gets them through the first half without conceding a terrible goal, so it’s already an improvement over the Aston Villa match.
Cornelia Kapocs gets clattered while in possession, but the referee says no foul and to play on. Lucy Parry immediately makes the same challenge on a West Ham player and the referee whistles for a foul, and then calls Parry over for a talking to after the right back threw her hands up in frustration.
West Ham are having the more dangerous possession
Great bit of play from Corenlia Kapocs, beating a player in the right channel and then driving towards the end line before sliding a ball into the middle of the box. Beata Olsson is lurking, but her shot is blocked. The ball is recycled by Liverpool back to Kapocs outside of the box on the right, and this time she lofts her cross in, but it doesn’t result in a shot this time.
Liverpool have settled into the match after the opening 15 minutes. Starting to see more consistent possession and confidence on the ball as they start to ping it around and find gaps of space to attack into.
Mia Enderby with a fantastic turn and then beats two players on the dribble as the races down the left touch line. She cuts the ball inside as players get forward in support, but she pushes it too far away and it is scooped up by a defender. The full Mia Enderby experience there.
Red Card to Gemma Bonner. Referee has absolutely lost the plot here in the 19th minute. Riko Ueki races forward with the ball after being sprung through the middle on a counter. Gemma Bonner and Jenna Clark both race back to cover, and Bonner goes to ground to make a sliding challenge. Ueki drags her back leg to induce contact after she pushes the ball in front of her and takes a tumble. The referee blows for a foul and then to the astonishment of everyone, goes to her back pocket to pull out a red card. Jenna Clark was literally shoulder to shoulder with Bonner, so there is no way this should be called a DOGSO foul. There is no VAR in the WSL, however, so the card will stand.
Gareth Taylor makes a change after the side are reduced to 10 players. Gemma Evans and Hannah Silcock come on. Kirsty MacLean and Lucy Parry come off. It’s going to take a massive effort now to get anything out of this match for Liverpool, much less a win.
Faye Kirby makes two big saves in quick succession. West Ham work the ball down the left with Vivanne Asseyi, and the Frenchwoman swings in a cross. Riko Ueki gets on the end of it and heads the ball on net from close range, but Kirby does well to get her hands up to catch the ball. Just a minute later Asseyi is sprung down the left wing again, this time advancing into the box in a 1v1 situation. She attempts to slide the ball past and advancing Kirby, but the Liverpool keeper makes a great kick save.
Liverpool with some possession in the West Ham half. The ball slides inside to Fuka Nagano, who has a pocket of space outside the box. Fuka tries a quick shot from distance, but the ball flies harmlessly high and wide.
Riko Ueki throws herself down theatrically again after chasing a ball through the middle, this time under the pressure of Jenna Clark. The referee blows the whistle, but this time it’s for Ueki starting from an offside position.
There is mayhem in the box late in the first half after West Ham put the ball into a dangerous area. Several Liverpool players fail to fully clear the ball, swinging wildly at it and not getting solid contact to put it away. After the ball caroms around a few times, Liverpool finally are able to get the ball forward through Gemma Evans and Mia Enderby, eventually even pulling Beata Olsson into play in a brief moment of attacking play.
Ceri Holland takes a hard tumble after clearing a ball behind and her momentum takes her into a Barclays WSL advertising, which causes her to tumble into the boards of advertisements that wring the ground. Thankfully she is able to get up and continue after getting untangled.
Hannah Silcock goes into the book after she makes a challenge on Riko Ueki. The Japan international is certainly making the most out of challenges and doing everything she can to get the referee to hand out cards.
Second Half
After conceding a quick opportunity to West Ham that resulted in a shot over the crossbar, Liverpool have had a nice spell of play in the West Ham half. The Reds kept the ball pinned on the left wing for a couple of minutes before Ceri Holland gets on the ball and earns a free kick on the left flank. The ball in is good, but Liverpool can’t get a shot away. Liverpool still managed to win the ball back and recycle it to keep possession for another spell before losing out.
Beata Olsson buys a freekick in the left channel about 30 yards from goal. Ceri Holland and Lily Woodham are over it, and it is Woodham who swings it in. The ball is put behind for a Liverpool corner. The set piece finds the head of Hannah Silcock, but the ball looks like it takes a bit of a deflection and bounces into the grateful hands of goalkeeper Kinga Szemik.
West Ham earn their own corner kick just a minute later. There is a scramble in the box and Beata Olsson makes a vital header to clear the ball off the line.
Goal West Ham. It’s another corner for the Hammers, and Asseyi whips the ball in. Riko Ueki continues to be a thorn in the side of Liverpool, making a good run to the near post and redirecting the ball with her head past Faye Kirby and into the far corner.
GOAL LIVERPOOL! Just moments after conceding the Reds level the match through Mia Enderby. It starts all the way back with Faye Kirby, who launches the ball forward. Beata Olsson flicks the ball on with her head into the path of Mia Enderby, who steams into the box and slots the ball past the goalkeeper with her left foot! That is the first WSL goal for Enderby.
Beata Olsson has been battling all match long, but she goes in a little late with a challenge near midfield, upending a West Ham player. The referee calls a foul and shows a yellow to Olsson.
This referee is an absolute mess. Vivianne Asseyi goes through the back of Fuka Nagano, and no foul is given. Hannah Silcock then slides in with a challenge and wins the ball, and the referee blows for a foul on Silcock. The Liverpool players are rightly incensed.
Liverpool come close to finding a second goal after some sensational play from Beata Olsson. She again battles to win a long ball forward from Faye Kirby, carrying the ball past two players. She has two players in the box and slides it square for Mia Enderby, who redirects it to Cornelia Kapocs. The Swede takes a shot from the edge of the six yard box, but it is blocked out.
Goal West Ham. Just a minute after the Liverpool change, a set piece play by West Ham sees the ball played on the ground to the top of the box for Ffion Morgan. She takes a low shot back towards the near post, and the ball clips off the heel of Fuka Nagano and is redirected into the goal. They are officially awarding the goal to Anna Csiki for now, but I don’t think she got any touch on the ball.
Hannah Silcock is forced off with an injury after coming on as a sub herself in the first half. She had been struggling for some time now. Alejandra Bernabé comes on for the young Scouser.
Gareth Taylor is giving it a go, making an attacking substitution with Leanne Kiernan coming on for Lily Woodham. It looks like Ceri Holland will step back as a right back with two strikers on the field now.
Liverpool send a free kick into the box, and it finds the head of Jenna Clark. The towering defender can’t direct it on target, however, and it goes out for a goal kick.
Ceri Holland sends in a great cross from the right wing. Beata Olsson makes the run to get to the front side of her defender and get her head to the ball, but header flashes just past the far post.
Fuka Nagano spins over top of the ball as she looks to turn past Anna Csiki in midfield. Csiki comes in hard with a challenge into the back of Fuka’s legs, scything down the Liverpool midfielder. The referee halts play after there was no advantage and shows a yellow to Csiki.
Leanne Kiernan earns a corner after forcing a last ditch tackle in the box. The corner doesn’t come to anything, but the ball is recycled all the way back to Faye Kirby and the Reds get forward again and earn a second corner through Ceri Holland. This time the corner is caught by the goalkeeper.
GOAL BEATA OLSSON!!!! West Ham make a, well, ham of it after Ayessi plays a ball inside without enough pace on it. Olsson picks the ball off and races into the box before calmly slamming the ball past the goalkeeper to level the score at 2-2!
Liverpool now have three minutes of regulation and whatever added on time to hold on for a point. As a side that have had a history of conceding late to drop points, it’s going to be nervy for supporters to watch.
Eep, West Ham get forward through Katrina Gorry. She twists and turns to get space with Jenna Clark defending, chopping the ball inside to get a shot away. Thankfully for Liverpool the ball goes just past the near post.
We are at the allotted amount of five minutes of extra time. Liverpool are just hammering the ball out of play, taking no chances with it as they try to see the game out. And there is the final whistle!
Final Thoughts
A draw is certainly not what Liverpool where hoping for entering the match, but after the calamity of the atrocious red card decision in just the 19th minute saw the team go down a player, earning a point on the road after going behind twice will be a welcome result. The point keeps Liverpool within touching distance of West Ham with just two points between the sides. A loss would have seen the Hammers go five points clear of the Reds.
The amount of heart and energy we saw from the shorthanded side today gives some hope the Liverpool can salvage things. The Reds will go into the new year bottom of the table, but it is expected that the side will strengthen over the January window. While WSL play is completed for 2025, Liverpool will face Chelsea next Sunday in knockout play in the Women’s League Cup.
