Manchester United 4-1 Everton Women: WSL Match Report and Reaction

Brian Sorensen pulled no punches when analysing Everton Women’s defeat to Manchester United at Leigh Sports Village, insisting his side had let themselves down and need to learn from this.

Katja Snoeijs strike on ten minutes stunned the home crowd and saw the the Blues go into half-time with the lead and a feeling that this could be their day.

But a second-half blitz from Marc Skinner’s side of three goals in eight minutes ensured the Toffees would remain winless during March and now sit ten points off the top six.

And Sorensen made no excuses for the result, insisting his team need to be smarter and learn from the day’s events.

“I think we let ourselves down. We spoke about it at half-time about things we had done really well in the first half.

“I felt that we had to be smart enough and ride the storm out, and we weren’t,” he said.

“I’m actually really disappointed; we put so much into the game in the first half and we bottled it so we must learn from that.

“We kept them [from creating] big chances in the first half and we felt in control. I thought we should have been better on the ball, but performance wise it was solid and the team worked really well.

Photo by Emma Simpson - Everton FC/Everton FC via Getty Images

“So, we need to go back, look at it, analyse it, and learn from it.”

Elise Stenevik was the only changed from last week’s goalless draw with Liverpool. The Norwegian returned from one-match suspension to replace Emma Bissell, who had to settled for a place on the bench.

Former Blue Nikita Parris had the game’s first chance. The striker saw her effort sail just wide of Courtney Brosnan’s post after cutting inside on five minutes.

Kathrine Kühl responded a minute later and went even closer. The Dane made space in the centre, but her curling strike rattled the woodwork and bounced to safety.

Everton were on top and made the pressure count through Snoeijs. The Dutch striker capitalised on Maya Le Tissier’s short back-pass before rounding Mary Earps to give her side the lead.

United searched for an equaliser but the Toffees soaked up the pressure and looked good value for their lead at the interval.

Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images

But Skinner’s side roared out for the second 45 and Brosnan was quickly coming to her team’s rescue when she tipped Lisa Naalsund’s dipping effort over the bar.

The hosts did draw level on 57 minutes via a corner through former Blue Millie Turner, who headed home a deep centre at the back post to leave Brosnan no chance.

Ella Toone then put the game out of reach with two strikes in five minutes. First, the 24-year-old rifled home Geyse’s cross on her second attempt before accepting Naalsund’s square ball to slot home into an empty net after the midfielder had intercepted Kühl’s loose pass.

Leah Galton made it four on 90 minutes. The forward collected Rachel Williams’ pass before slotting pass Brosnan to complete the scoring and round off a frustrating day for the Blues.

An international break now gives Sorensen a chance to regroup before his side resume WSL action on the Southcoast to face Brighton & Hove Albion on Friday 19 April (7pm BST).