Wyne scores but Hammers fail to win after Duggan levels late on in entertaining 1-1 draw

By Football Reporter

Everton Women 1 West Ham Utd Women 1

A predatory late equaliser from Toni Duggan earned Everton a share of the spoils following an entertaining mid-table clash against West Ham.

Duggan pounced on a loose pass in the visitors’ defence to side-foot home clinically past Mackenzie Arnold with 14 minutes to go.

Both sides extended their respective unbeaten runs to three matches as a result.

West Ham made most of the early running at Walton Hall Park, and they went close when Lisa Evans teed up Dagny Brynjarsdottir, only for her effort from a tight angle to drift wide.

The hosts responded with Danielle Turner firing over the top after Aurora Galli had seen her initial shot blocked by Grace Fisk.

The visitors were unlucky again when Tameka Yallop fizzed a shot a couple of feet wide after Evans again played provider.

Olli Harder’s team got the goal they had been threatening five minutes before the interval.

Katerina Svitkova darted down the left before dragging the ball back perfectly into the path of wing-back Zaneta Wyne, who side-footed home confidently.

It was almost two shortly after the restart when Evans forced Sandy Maciver into a smart save, with Brynjarsdottir clipping the rebound wide.

Everton replied with Lucy Graham heading inches over the top as she rose highest to meet sub Poppy Pattinson’s corner-kick.

After Duggan’s 76th-minute leveller, Everton looked the more likely side to go on and grab maximum points, with sub Hanna Bennison going closest when she hooked a shot over the crossbar from 12 yards.

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Everton: (4-3-3): Sandy Maciver; Nathalie Bjorn, Rikke Sevecke, Gabby George, Danielle Turner; Kenza Dali, Izzy Christiansen, Toni Duggan; Simone Magill, Lucy Graham, Aurora Galli. Substitutes: Hanna Bennison (for Galli, 58), Poppy Pattinson (for Turner, 58), Anna Anvegard (for Graham, 66). Substitutes not used: Courtney Brosnan, Megan Finnigan, Leonie Maier, Grace Clinton. Goals: Duggan 76. Bookings: George 78, Sevecke 89. Red cards: None. West Ham: (3-4-2-1): Mackenzie Arnold; Grace Fisk, Kawa Cissoko, Gilly Flaherty; Zaneta Wyne, Tameka Yallop, Dagny Brynjarsdottir, Katerina Svitkova; Abbey Stringer, Yui Hasegawa; Lisa Evans. Substitutes: Claudia Walker (for Evans, 69), Kate Longhurst (for Wyne, 75). Substitutes not used: Anna Leat, Melisa Filis, Brooke Cairns, Grace Garrad. Goals: Wyne 40. Bookings: Svitkova 31. Red cards: None. Referee: Lucy May.

West Ham boss Olli Harder said: “You can look at the result through two lenses. “You can talk about getting a point on the road against a good Everton team, but we can also look at it through the context of the game, which was that they scored with the only real, meaningful opportunity they had. “It was a sloppy goal to concede, that’s the bottom line, but it is what it is. “We’re still moving the bus forward, though. “We’re undefeated in over a month now, and looking forward to taking on Brighton now. “I think it’s been pretty noticeable that there has been a big shift in momentum since I arrived in January. “That’s in terms of performances and results, so West Ham is moving in a positive direction so maybe we need to look at it through that lens. “We could have defended the situation surrounding their goal much better I know, we had enough control of the game to have secured what would have been a deserved win.”