A Zara Kramzar header and a stunning strike from Yuka Momiki saw Everton Women begin their Subway Players Cup campaign with victory at Goodison Park as the Blues made it three wins from three.
The biggest cheer of the evening went to Megan Finnigan – the club captain being getting her first competitive start since suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury over 600 days ago.
Scott Phelan elected to rotate his side, meaning Rylee Foster-Inman, Issy Hobson, Aurora Galli, along with Finnigan, all earned
their first minutes of the season.
The evening didn’t start well for the Toffees, who lost Hobson to injury inside the opening five minutes following a collision in the middle of the park. The versatile youngster immediately signalled to the bench after going down, with Hannah Blundell replacing her place at right-back.
And the night nearly went from bad to worse when the visitors threatened through Suzu Amano ten minutes later. The midfielder picked up the ball in the centre and launched a fierce effort goalwards which cannoned off the post, although Foster-Inman looked to have it covered.
But it was Everton that made the breakthrough two minutes later through Kramzar following an excellent ball from Momiki. The Japan star delicately clipped the ball over the visitors’ backline and the Slovenian arrived first to bravely beat the onrushing Lucy Thomas to give the hosts the lead and become the first player in Royal Blue to score for the Toffees this season.
No chance this goal was being taken off her.
The Blues continued to threaten and it was Finnigan who was the next to try her luck but could hit the side-netting after Momiki’s corner was cleared only as far as her.
Momiki herself then tried her luck on 36 minutes, but saw her curling effort sail narrowly over the upright as the Toffees continued to turn the screw.
But with their lead only at one goal, Phelan will have had his heart in his mouth as Wilma Leidhammar came close to restoring parity on the stroke of half-time.
Thankfully, the Swede’s volley drifted wide of Foster-Inman’s goal, but it was enough to let Everton know that there was still work to do as the half-time whistle blew.
And they duly obliged ten minutes after the restart through the excellent Momiki. The former Leicester City forward drifted in-field from the right before unleashing a thunderbolt that nestled in to the top right corner as the Goodison crowd were sent into raptures.
With daylight between the teams, Phelan sought to freshen things up with Hikaru Kitagawa and Hannah Cain replacing Rosa van Gool and Ornella Vignola on 68 minutes.
And the latter very nearly made it three with her first effort but saw her near-post effort well saved by Thomas, who had to again be alert four minutes later to thwart the marauding Momiki after the striker had managed to find room to shoot.
Attention turns to the Merseyside derby Anfield on Sunday afternoon at 12pm BST (7am ET, 4am PT). The Blues will be looking for a fourth consecutive victory at the home of their city rivals across the park.
