REPUBLIC OF IRELAND centurion Niamh Fahey marked her 100th Liverpool appearance by captaining the Reds to an important win over West Ham United in the Women’s Super League [WNL] today.
Goals from Ceri Holland and Katie Stengel powered Liverpool to their second win of the season, moving them up to eighth in the table after a difficult return to the top-flight.
Matt Beard’s side stunned champions Chelsea on the opening day of the season, but have struggled since. Today’s 2-0 victory at Prenton Park comes as a huge boost.
Fahey played the full game, while Megan Campbell impressed through her 79 minutes. The injury-prone Irish international was substituted down the home straight, having received treatment on her shoulder.
It’s one of several concerns for Vera Pauw this weekend, the World Cup-bound Ireland manager telling RTÉ’s Late Late Show on Friday that “we are going to stun the world” in Australia next summer.
Izzy Atkinson was a first-half withdrawal for the Hammers, with Jess Ziu and Leanne Kiernan long-term injury absentees for both sides.
A special achievement for the skipper ♥@Niamh_Fahey1 bringing up 100 Reds appearances today 👏 pic.twitter.com/PEeuXeHdx8
— Liverpool FC Women (@LiverpoolFCW) December 4, 2022
Elsewhere today in the WSL, Reading secured a crucial win at home to Tottenham Hotspur.
Another side struggling towards the bottom of the table, a first-half own goal from Amy Turner ultimately lifted the Royals to 10th. Diane Caldwell was an unused substitute, while Grace Moloney didn’t feature in the matchday squad.
Megan Walsh and Megan Connolly were on the losing side as Brighton & Hove Albion fell to a 3-1 defeat to Manchester City. The former did play her first full 90 minutes post-injury, though.
There was concern for Ruesha Littlejohn yesterday, the Aston Villa midfielder ruled out of their clash with Manchester United with a fresh injury concern having just returned.
Villa fell to a gut-wrenching 5-0 loss at Old Trafford; United and Chelsea striking 13 goals between them without reply as they put their respective opponents to the sword.
The Blues maintained their three-point advantage at the top of the table and boosted their goal difference with an 8-0 hammering of bottom side Leicester. Playing at Old Trafford for the third time, and in front of their biggest crowd of just over 30,000, Marc Skinner’s side kept pace with Chelsea having played one game fewer.
Arsenal are also three points behind Chelsea having played a game less, although they had to settle for a single goal in a 1-0 victory over Everton. Katie McCabe was captain on the day, with Vivianne Miedema the goal-scorer. England U23 goalkeeper Emily Ramsey was preferred to Courtney Brosnan in the Toffees’ goal.
In the Championship today, Lucy Quinn was on target for Birmingham City as they enjoyed a 2-0 win at Blackburn Rovers. She started alongside Louise Quinn, Jamie Finn and Harriet Scott, while Eleanor Ryan-Doyle was an unused substitute.
Two of the other games involving Irish players in the division resulted in 1-1 draws: table-toppers London City Lionesses (Hayley Nolan and Lily Agg) and Southampton, and Durham (Naoisha McAloon and Saoirse Noonan) and Bristol City (Chloe Mustaki) finished all square.
And Emily Kraft‘s Lewes suffered a 1-0 defeat at home to Crystal Palace.
On the continent, Niamh Farrelly played the full game as her Parma side earned a 2-2 draw at Sassuolo in Italy, while Amber Barrett and Turbine Potsdam fell to a 3-0 loss at Bayer Leverkusen.
Barrett came off the bench in the 46th minute but was substituted off in the 81st, injury concerns now hanging over Ireland’s World Cup play-off goal-scoring hero.
- Additional reporting from Press Association
