Everton have issued another big statement of intent in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League by demolishing Aston Villa 6-0 at The Banks’s Stadium this afternoon.
Hayley Raso and Claire Emslie both netted impressive doubles for Willie Kirk’s side while Valerie Gauvin and Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah were also on-target as The Blue Girls continued their winning start to the new season.
Everton went close to breaking the deadlock in the very first minute. Lucy Graham’s low pass found Gauvin and she had a shot saved by home keeper Lisa Weiss before her second effort from the rebound was blocked.
Graham soon tested Weiss herself with an effort from 18 yards before Natalie Haigh did well to recover after losing possession to Gauvin on the edge of her own box.
Weiss was again called into action to superbly tip a Raso strike over the bar before the same player opened the scoring from close range moments later, tapping in an Emslie cross from the left.
It was soon 2-0 to Kirk’s side when Weiss’ attempted clearance fell to the feet of Raso and the Australian international drilled to ball into the far corner of the net.
Emslie then curled in a third after Raso opted to pass on the opportunity of completing her hat-trick and Izzy Chistiansen played the Scot in to score before Gauvin’s diving header made it 4-0 before the half-time whistle had sounded.
Everton keeper Sandy MacIver was called into action for the first time shortly after the break, pushing Chloe Arthur’s effort wide for a corner. Any hope which that attempt brought to Villa was soon taken away as Everton netted twice in as many minutes. First, half-time substitute Boye-Hlorkah looped the ball over Weiss into the far corner from out wide on the right before Emslie found herself one-on-one with the Villa keeper and took the ball round her before placing it into the net.
A flurry of substitutions slightly disjointed the final half-hour of the contest as the scoreline remained at 6-0. Nicoline Sorensen and Emslie both saw efforts well saved by Weiss for Everton while MacIver blocked a Stine Larsen effort with her outstretched leg but neither side were to add to the scoreline.
The result sees The Blue Girls temporarily move to the top of the Barclays FA Women’s Super League table ahead of the remaining gameweek three fixtures tomorrow afternoon.
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