Raso strike sees off Liverpool

Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw opened the scoring after she latched onto Lauren Hemp’s through ball but Katie Stengal dispossessed Alex Greenwood to equalise for Liverpool just before half time.

City managed to restore the lead once more with Raso who tapped in from a spill by Rachael Laws as we claimed a massive three points.

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WHAT HAPPENED

A vibrant display in front of 4,002 supporters before the match kicked off, was followed by an attacking start from City.

After winning a corner, Lauren Hemp’s flicked header from Chloe Kelly’s corner was defended off the line by the Liverpool defence to set the tone for the afternoon.

Moments later, a cross was whipped in by Kerstin Casparij and met by Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw, but she could not put enough power on the header as it fell into the palms of Rachael Laws in the Reds goal.

The breakthrough eventually came, as Lauren Hemp found herself in a central position as she did superbly to drive into box and her slide through pass to Shaw was calmly converted past Laws to give City a deserved advantage.

City were on the hunt for the second as Hemp did well to beat her defender and ran the ball to the by-line, her cross bounced out to Deyna Castellanos, but her shot went high and wide of the target.

Kelly then tried her luck from a far, but her ferocious effort flew over the crossbar to the frustration of the City crowd.

Liverpool were looking for an equaliser, as Missy Bo Kearns pressed Yui Hasegawa in our box but her shot inside the six-yard box went straight at Roebuck.

But soon after, we did not learn from our mistake, as Katie Stengal took the ball off Alex Greenwood before she ran down on goal and slotted past Roebuck to put the game on level terms.

We responded quickly, as Kelly was played through on the right, her cross reached Shaw but she was unable to direct the ball on target.

With City knowing a win was vital to keep up with the teams above, Gareth Taylor’s side heeded his instructions to attack the game.

Hemp accelerated towards the goal, but her powerful strike was straight at the Reds keeper.

Later, City broke through Shaw and ball was with Kelly on the right, she played in Hasegawa who’s deflected shot was left hanging in the air.

Hemp was there first to head the ball on target which beat the goalkeeper, but Megan Campbell was there to clear it off the line.

City again caught Liverpool on the break but this time to affect.

Shaw raced down the left before she played the ball across to the back post where substitute Haley Raso, struck her first attempt on goal was saved by Laws but the winger made no mistake on the rebound, as we restored our lead.

The visitors were leaving a lot of space in behind, which the City crowd were roaring the players to exploit. As Casparij played in a cross towards Hemp, but her poked attempt was saved on the line by Laws.

Liverpool were pushing hard to get a point from the game as City had to defend well from numerous corners and long throw ins.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: KHADIJA ‘BUNNY’ SHAW

The Jamaican striker once again was on target as she scored her sixth goal of the campaign and held up play brilliantly throughout the game to give us time to get bodies up the pitch to attack.

WHAT IT MEANS

Victory for City sees us climb the table as we move to fourth place in the WSL table at the time of writing, and three points off third placed Arsenal.

HOW WE LINED UP

Gareth Taylor kept faith with the team that beat Tottenham Hotspurs 3-0 in our last league encounter.

Ellie Roebuck returned in goal for this one, with a back four of Kerstin Casparij, Laia Aleixandri, Alex Greenwood and Esme Morgan protecting her.

Yui Hasegawa played as a deep lying midfielder, with Deyna Castellanos and Laura Coombs placed further forward in the engine room.

Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw took her position as a sole striker, with Chloe Kelly and Lauren Hemp supporting her on the wings.

City XI: Roebuck, Casparij, Aleixandri, Greenwood (C), Morgan, Hasegawa, Castellanos, Coombs, Kelly (69’ Raso), Hemp, Shaw (81’ Fowler)

SUBS: Maclver, Stokes, Houghton, Angeldahl, Ouahabi, Hutchings, Blakstad

Liverpool XI: Laws, Koivisto (90’ Wardlaw), Flaherty, Fahey, Campbell, Matthews , Hinds (83’ Roberts), Kearns (76’ Humphrey), Furness (76’ van de Sanden), Lawley (76’ Daniels), Stengel

SUBS: Cummings, Robe, Furness, Silcock

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UP NEXT

City are back in league action again next week as we head down south to face Reading.

Kick-off is scheduled for 2:00pm (UK) on Sunday 6 November.