Late heartbreak for Women on Merseyside

It was late, late heartbreak for our Women as Liverpool's Mia Enderby struck twice in the final two minutes of added time at St Helens Stadium to see us to a 2-0 defeat in the Barclays Women's Super League on Sunday afternoon.

Having battled valiantly throughout the game, it looked like we were going to continue our unbeaten start to 2026, but a double from the Reds' substitute, the opener in the fourth minute of injury time before a slip allowed her a second straight from the restart, saw us fall to a defeat for the first time late December.

Despite the defeat, there was positives to take from the game with Cathinka Tandberg and Olga Ahtinen both returning from injury to make their first appearances since late November.

Despite having not picked up a win in the WSL prior to this game, the hosts started on the front foot in the early stages and, after just two minutes, struck the woodwork when Alice Bergstrom’s curling effort from the edge of the box crashed against the crossbar. Lize Kop produced a routine save from Aurelie Csillag’s header before Ceri Holland sliced a shot wide from the left-hand inside of the box as Liverpool carved out plenty of opportunities in the opening 10 minutes.

Our shot stopper produced a fantastic save low down to her left to deny Csillag after the forward was teed up in the area by Fuka Nagano. We began to settle down in the contest after the midway point of the first period, starting to be a bit calmer in possession, but we were unable to break down a resolute Liverpool defence, with our only shot on goal coming from Olivia Holdt five minutes before the break, but her low drive from around 25 yards out drifted wide of the target.

After a difficult first half in Warrington, we needed to come out fighting and, six minutes after the restart, Signe Gaupset could have opened the scoring in the encounter but was denied one-on-one by Jennifer Falk after a superb ball from Holdt to set our number eight through in a quick move from back to front. Liverpool still posed a threat at the other end, Bergstrom blasting a left-footed strike narrowly over the bar from the right outside of the box.

Cornelia Kapocs then had three massive opportunities in the space of four minutes, first guiding a first-time effort from the centre of the box wide of the post after Holland’s low cross from the left byline then, two minutes later, Holland again pulling it back to the forward in the area, but Hunt got across this time to deflect her effort wide. Minutes later, we were indebted to a huge save by Kop on this occasion as a corner caused a scramble and Kapocs, in the six-yard box, turned and shot away but Kop managed to claw the ball off her line to keep the scores level as we approached the final 20.

Bethany England sent a looping header wide of the far post but, as we entered the final minutes of normal time, the hosts looked most likely for a winner as they struck the woodwork twice in a matter of minutes. First Bergstrom striking the outside of the post from Holland's lofted cross before the latter saw her woodwork from distance crash against the post once again. Then, in the fourth minute of stoppage time, the Reds pressure finally prevailed as Jenna Clark's low cross from the right saw substitute Enderby improvise to force the ball home from close range at the near post.

Then, immediately from kick-off, we were dealt another blow as a slip from Eveliina Summanen allowed Enderby to run clean through and she calmly slotted home for a second, as we condemned to our first defeat in the WSL since early November.

Match data

Goals: Liverpool – Enderby 90+4, 90+5.

Yellow cards: Liverpool – O’Sullivan 70; Spence 82.

Referee: Grace Lowe.

Venue: St Helens Stadium.

Weather: Chilly with a strong breeze, seven degrees.

Attendance: TBC.