Manchester United fought back from a goal down to eventually run out as very comfortable winners in the first Women’s Super League game staged at Hill Dickinson Stadium, as a historic day for Everton ended in disappointment and one of their former players, Jess Park, ended up being the late star of the show.
A crowd of 18,154 were inside the Everton men’s team’s new home and they were temporarily on course for a celebratory day when Honoka Hayashi’s first-half strike had the home side leading 1-0, but Melvine Malard’s equaliser and Hikaru Kitagawa’s own goal meant it was the travelling army of about 1,000 Manchester United fans who were making all the noise. Two late goals from the substitute Park then gave the away side a margin of victory that more accurately reflected their domination.
The result also preserved United’s unbeaten start to the WSL campaign and was their fourth victory from their opening six league fixtures, and they remain just two points behind the leaders Chelsea.
The visitors should have been at least 2-0 up, and could even have been three goals ahead, inside eight minutes, as firstly Lisa Naalsund clipped an effort comfortably over the crossbar despite being in space inside the area, before her Norwegian compatriot Elisabeth Terland surprisingly headed wide from around two yards out when a goal had looked certain. Fridolina Rolfö also fired into the side netting in that early spell of Manchester United pressure. Three minutes later then went close again in the 11th minute when Malard’s overhead flick was deflected and then saved by Emily Ramsey.
Marc Skinner’s team were then briefly punished for failing to take their early chances when Hayashi scored the first WSL goal inside this stadium, poking home after Phallon Tullis-Joyce could only parry Yuka Momiki’s inswinging free-kick and Hayashi was the fastest to react to the loose ball in the box.
After the introduction of Park from the bench, the visitors took over again and equalised when Malard raced on to Hinata Miyazawa’s through ball and scored on the rebound after Ramsey had saved her initial shot. Malard was then involved again when it became 2-1, as she was putting pressure on Kitagawa in the box as the defender inadvertently scuffed her attempted clearance into her own net.
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Park was enjoying running at the Everton backline and made it 3-1 with a low, deflected shot sent Ramsey in the wrong direction, but there was nothing fortunate about Park’s second and United’s fourth, as she classily found the bottom corner from outside the box in the closing stages.
