Liverpool won away to Brighton to move within striking distance of fourth-placed Manchester United in the Barclays Women’s Super League.
Brighton & Hove Albion 0-1 Liverpool
Everton 2-0 West Ham United
Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Aston Villa
Leicester City 5-2 Bristol City
Liverpool moved within two points of fourth-placed Manchester United with victory away to Brighton. Albion clipped the woodwork twice in the first half through Elisabeth Terland and Poppy Pattinson, while Sophie Roman Haug when closest for Liverpool with a header. Eight minutes after the restart Liverpool made the breakthrough, Ceri Holland firing home when intercepting a clearance from Sophie Baggaley. Holland was sent off in stoppage-time for a second caution.
Aston Villa’s victory over Tottenham Hotspur put them just three points behind their sixth-placed hosts. Adriana Leon raced into the box midway through the first half and unchallenged by three defenders, was able to poke Villa in front. Spurs replied before the break, an inviting free kick headed in by Amy James-Turner. Villa regained the advantage by the hour mark, with a Jordan Nobbs strike from outside the box finding the top corner. Jess Naz came off the bench to force Daphne van Domselaar into tipping the ball wide, but Spurs could not find a second equaliser.
Everton moved three points ahead of West Ham after defeating their visitors. The goal remained goalless until the last seven minutes of the ninety, when Everton’s Martina Piemonte nodded her side ahead from an Aurora Galli cross. Roles were reversed as Piemonte knocked the ball down for Galli to net from outside the box. Everton’s win was marred by Karoline Olesen being stretchered off with just moments of the match remaining.
Bottom-of-the-table Bristol City twice levelled at Leicester City, before going down to a 5-2 defeat. Ffion Morgan capitalised on a defensive error to chip keeper Lize Kop and open the scoring for Bristol. Leicester levelled through Yuka Momiki’s chip from a tight angle and the Foxes took a half-time lead with Saori Takarada’s close-range finish. Amalie Thestrup got through to finish confidently and make it 2-2 early in the second half, only for Janice Cayman to net from a cutback and restore Leicester’s lead. Jutta Rantala extended the advantage and 16-year-old Denny Draper opened her account with the fifth goal.
