ANFIELD, LIVERPOOL — Now in its third season in the Women's Super League (WSL) after winning promotion back from the Championship in 2022, Liverpool is fully re-established at the top level again. The next step: getting up to the level of the likes of Manchester City.
For a long time, it was looking like Liverpool would pick up a point against the side that only lost out on the title on goal difference last season. A win at Anfield is still proving to be elusive but the Reds — minus manager Matt Beard, who was absent through illness — had looked like collecting a valuable point. Only a late winner, smashed home in front of the Manchester City fans by Khadija Shaw, prevented that.
Even though she went off with a hip injury at time-time having been clattered into by Manchester City players on a couple of separate occasions, the game — for Liverpool, at least — was all about another step in the right direction for exciting summer signing Olivia Smith . The 19-year-old, bought from Sporting CP in the summer, was the most impressive player on the field during her 45-minute stint.
On the occasion at Anfield when Liverpool Women scored its first WSL goal in the stadium, the disappointment was twofold: one, that Smith wasn't able to last beyond the interval, and two, that the Reds couldn't pick up any points. Natasha Dowie has netted on the famous turf, but that was during a Women's FA Cup tie against Arsenal in April 2013. Smith's effort was therefore a first.
The goal that Smith scored was all of her own making. She won the ball midway into the Manchester City half, before driving forward with it at her feet. Letting fly with her right boot, around 25 yards out, her shot found the bottom corner at the Anfield Road End.
"I think ever since it was announced that we'd be playing at Anfield, it's just been on my mind constantly," Smith had in the build-up to the match. "That's just an environment I've been desperate to play in, and I've never been in an environment like that. So it's definitely something not just me, but my family are looking forward to, as well as the team. I'm very excited."
She certainly made the most of it while she was fit and able to — as did her proud family, sat behind the press box. "I think that's going to mean everything to me just knowing how big of a fan my dad is," Smith had said. "He grew up loving a team like this. So to be able to step on that pitch as a woman and as a female footballer is just amazing."
Manchester City, particularly in the second half, looked the more likely scorers. Indeed, Shaw equalized, then hit the post, and finally scored what proved to be a late clincher. Lauren Hemp looked lively and Rachael Laws in the Liverpool goal was the busier of the two goalkeepers, with her counterpart, Akaya Yamashita, required almost exclusively only to use her feet.
By the end, there was a little timewasting from Liverpool as it sought to see the draw out. But it wasn't quite enough: the groans around Anfield when the board went up with a seven on it for added time were soon replaced by more discontent — and delirium in the away section.
Had the Reds held on, it would have arguably been deserved for the Liverpool bodies that had been put on the line. But Manchester City notched 12 shots and slowly the pressure told: Shaw smashed home from close range in stoppage time and decided the game. This was always going to be a big test for Liverpool, but its wait for a victory at Anfield continues.
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