Liverpool’s quality told as they Women’s Super League One newcomers Yeovil Town Ladies a baptism of fire in their first fixture in the top-flight of women’s football.
Playing in Yeovil’s away kit, as they forgot to pack their own, Liverpool went close on four minutes as Tash Harding had a shot parried by Lady Glovers’ keeper Charlotte Haynes, before the danger was cleared by Helen Bleazard.
The Reds did edge ahead in the 23rd minute, though, when Alex Greenwood converted from the penalty spot after Annie Heatherson was penalised for a handball.
And Liverpool doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time as skipper Gemma Bonner poked home a corner from Greenwood after the Lady Glovers failed to clear their lines.
In the second half, Yeovil had a penalty appeal turned down for a challenge on Nicola Cousins on 64 minutes, but a minute later they fell further behind as substitute Katie Zelem turned home a cross from Shanice Van De Sanden.
Ten minutes later, Zelem doubled her tally when she slotted home following another cross from Van De Sanden.
Yeovil did get a consolation on 78 minutes, though, as substitute Sarah Wiltshire calmly converted from the penalty spot.
“We’re delighted with the win, it’s a tough first game going away to Yeovil; they’ve got a great crowd here for their first game in WSL One and they were up for it, and the crowd were too.
“It was a very professional performance and we have come away with the win.
“It was also great to score some goals and we probably should have got a few more, but they had some chances of their own.
“But we’re delighted with the win and it was great to get four goals.
“To be honest with the penalty, I didn’t see it and I don’t know what the ref has seen - but that’s football sometimes these decisions go for you sometimes they go against you.
“We’re disappointed not to get the clean sheet.
“The aim for us today was to get the three points and we knew that we had to get the performance right. We had to bounce back from the Man City game and we’ve done that today.
“We knew that nothing was going to be easy for us in this league and we put in a hell of a performance today.
“At 2-0, the game was there for the taking; we do believe that there was a slight push in the back for a penalty - we didn’t get the penalty and they went and scored.
“That’s the difference at this level - we’ve got to take those baby steps, we’ve got to learn, we will enjoy what we’ve done today and we will move forward.
“We will be learning from the things that we did well and we did a lot of good things today, we’ve got a lot about us and we’ve got a lot to prove and they gave a good account of themselves.
“It was a great occasion for this football club and we’re disappointed by the result, it was a great occasion as they showed what the level of football is all about.
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