Having cruised to a comfortable victory against Bristol City at Ashton Gate on the opening weekend, Willie Kirk’s Leicester City returned to their usual hunting ground on Sunday as they welcomed his former club to the banks of the River Soar.
LEI: Leitzig; Nevin, Howard, Green, Cayman; O’Brien, Rantala, Tierney, Whelan, Goodwin; Petermann
EVE: Ramsey; Hope, Finnigan, Björn; Veje, Galli, Vanhaevermaet, Payne; Bennison; Piemonte, Bissell
With confidence still evidently high following their opening day win, Leicester City looked to take the lead early on through Lena Petermann as the German forward dispossessed Emily Ramsey – but her resulting strike failed to hit the target.
Missy Goodwin could have also opened the scoring for the Foxes, planting her strike wide after Shannon O’Brien had nicked the ball from the Everton shotstopper once more – but the Toffees would create chances too, with Martina Piemonte putting Janina Leitzig to work.
But deep inside first-half stoppage time, Brian Sorensen’s side would be awarded an opportunity to take the lead from the penalty spot when Piemonte was felled inside the area. Up stepped Justine Vanhaevermaet, although her effort and the resulting rebound were dealt with well by Leitzig.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe miss wouldn’t deter Everton though, with Lucy Hope attempting to take advantage of their growing momentum as she forced yet another save from Leitzig at the start of the second half.
But with little over twenty minutes of regulation time remaining, it was the Foxes that found the breakthrough as Petermann latched onto a superb through ball from Sam Tierney – provisionally placing Leicester City at the top of the WSL table.
Everton thought they had equalised through Emma Bissell in the 84th minute until the assistant referee’s flag was raised, condemning the Toffees to a second successive defeat. They’ll look to rectify that record against Liverpool at Anfield next weekend, while Leicester City travel to Manchester United’s Leigh Sports Village.
