Scott Phelan praised Hannah Cain and Holly McNamara as a Leighanne Robe own goal secured Everton Women’s first win of the season at the expense of Charlton Athletic.
A tight game that yielded few chances, Karen Hills’ side dug in well and will have felt luck was against them when McNamara evaded her marker and sent her effort from a tight angle across the six-yard box before a wicked deflection off Robe which sent it past Sophie Whitehouse.
The Addicks finished the game with nine players following
Ashleigh Neville’s dismissal just before the hour mark, while substitute Hawa Cissoko was given her marching orders in stoppage time after being shown a second yellow card after fouling McNamara.
And while Phelan was pleased with the win, the Blues boss urged more players to show their personalities in front of the opposition goal.
“When you are playing against a team that defends low, you are almost relying on individual moments of magic, that didn’t quite happen last week,” he said.
“[Today] we had a few moments in the first half; Hannah added something in terms of speed and being more direct from the sides. And then we had a one v one with Holly and she managed to wriggle through and then that block is not as hard to break through as it was before.
“That’s what we need. You are going to get to a certain area of the pitch, it is when we land there that we need to see if the girls can bring their personality to take someone out of the game. Then all of a sudden there is an advantage somewhere.
“That happened for the goal, and it is something we need to push more if we are going to be a threat near the opponents’ goal more often.
“But we managed to get through today. Three points and we can all be happy until we start again.”
A 4-3-3 set-up saw Courtney Brosnan keep her place in between the sticks and gain the captain’s armband, Full-backs Hannah Blundell and Hikaru Kitagawa flanked the centre-back pairing of Naomi Layzell and Hannah Silcock, who made their Goodison debuts.
Ruby Mace and Honoka Hayashi sat deep in midfield, behind Zara Kramzar in the No.10 role as summer signing McNamara led the line for the Blues, with Ornella Vignola and Cain either side of the Australia international.
The hosts were the first to register an effort through Silcock, who almost marked her home debut with a goal on 11 minutes when she met Kitagawa’s dangerous set-piece, only for her effort land inches wide of the near-post.
The Toffees failed to build on that momentum and it was the visitors that threatened nine minutes later as Neville’s volley was sent into the box for the forwards to feed on but instead cannoned off the upright.
The Addicks came close again on 37 minutes through Elisha N’Dow. The defender met Cassandra Korhonen’s cut-back but headed narrowly wide of the mark as the two sides concluded a goalless first half.
McNamara floated a header just past Whitehouse’s goal six minutes after the interval, but the mood was to really change when the experienced Neville caught Mace with a high challenge down the left which saw referee Alice Parker produce a straight red for the former Tottenham Hotspur star.
Phelan wasted no time in ringing the changes; Rosa van Gool and Maz Pacheco replaced Honoka Hayashi and Naomi Layzell on the hour mark.
With their numerical advantage Everton continued to press, with McNamara and Kitagawa both seeing efforts sail off target.
With the game still at a stalemate, Japanese duo Yuka Momiki and Rion Ishikawa came on in place of new signings Cain and Silcock, both of whom impressed on their Goodison debuts.
And Momiki almost made an instant impact when she forced Whitehouse in to a fingertip save from 25-yards out only a minute after entering the field of play.
The Blues kept plugging away and made their breakthrough with 13 minutes of normal time remaining. McNamara showed real personality to slip past her marker before her cross took a fortunate deflection and nestled in to the net, much to the delight of the Gwladys faithful
The Addicks were reduced to nine in injury time as Cissoko accumulated a second yellow for a foul on the Australian. The substitute had only entered the field of play in the 66th minute.
The visitors ill-discipline certainly made life easier for Everton, who saw out the game before saluting the home support, who certainly played their part throughout a tough 90+ minutes.
A return to the capital is next up for Phelan’s team, who travel to West Ham for their fixture on Sunday, 20 September.
