Manchester United continued their winning ways in the Women’s Super League on Sunday, coming from behind with a second-half flurry against Everton at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Melvine Malard nearly set up
Lisa Naalsund for an early goal when she probably should have had a go herself, and just a couple of minutes later Elisabeth Terland headed the ball over the goal. Fridolina Rolfo also had a chance go just wide, and Malard had an overhead kick attempt thwarted.
The strike partnership was threatening but didn’t find the net against Valerenga in the UEFA Women’s Champions League in midweek, and they would have to wait to do so this time around as well.
United dominated the opening 15 minutes, but on 16 minutes the hosts opened the scoring on a corner kick rebound. Phallon Tullis Joyce dealt with the initial cross, but her punch went into the path of Honoka Hayashi, who sent a powerful shot into the net for 1-0.
Fortunately for the Reds, and certainly because of the Red midfield and defense, it would be Everton’s only effort on target until the 90+8’ minute of the match.
United resumed their attack, and Terland saw a shot go painfully wide on the end of a pass in behind from Malard. Their patience paid off eventually, but it took another period of dominance to start the second half before breaking through.
It was Malard, on the end of a pass from Hinata Miyazawa, and finishing after her initial shot was parried away. It was, as United hoped, the opening of the floodgates, and just a few minutes later Malard was at the center of the second goal. A cross towards Malard was deflected and bounced up awkwardly, and Hikaru Kitagawa tried to deal with it before United’s no. 9 could capitalize. Her clearance sent the ball toward her own goal, landing in the bottom corner to give the Reds the lead.
It was Jess Park who finished the game in the final minutes, scoring twice with muted celebrations against the club she spent some time at early in her career. The first took a slightly favorable bounce, but there was no doubt about the quality of the effort on the final goal. She took a touch to her right after a quick pass from Ella Toone, and then fired a ferocious strike into the bottom right corner.
The weekend results have the Reds in third, two points ahead of Tottenham Hotspur and two points behind league leaders, Chelsea.
