Liverpool FC Women 1, Leicester City 1: Reds Drop Points In Season Opening Draw

Today at 12:30 PM

A look back at the key moments in Liverpool's season opening draw against Leicester City.

Liverpool 1 - 1 Leicester City

Liverpool: Roman Haug 45'

Leicester City: Rantala 53'

Pre-Match

The season opener is finally here for the Liverpool FC Women as they take on Leicester City in the first competitive match at the Reds new home, St. Helens Stadium. Matt Beard is still missing Teagan Micah and Grace Fisk through injury, with Gemma Evans earning her first start for Liverpool in place of Fisk. Club record signing Olivia Smith gets the start up top alongside Sophie Roman Haug.

First Half

Leicester City kick off and the 2024-25 WSL season is underway!

Taylor Hinds takes an early blow after she is clattered while trying to retain possession of the ball. Play is stopped momentarily, and Hinds is able to catch her breath and return to play.

Liverpool with their first spell of possession and they show some nice interplay to move the ball into the attacking third. Olivia Smith with some assured first involvement for the Reds.

Smith earns an early free kick near the midfield stripe after showing some quick footwork and good strength. She is able to ride the first challenge and turn before being hauled down.

Ceri Holland has the first shot of the season, and it is a good one. After Liverpool move the ball down the right wing, the ball is played to Holland, who cuts inside and unleashes a powerful left-footed shot from distance. It was on target and Lize Kop had to leap to tip the ball over the crossbar.

Olivia Smith charges forward with the ball, putting a couple of defenders to her back before entering the box. Ruby Mace steps in and is just able to poke the ball away as Smith was winding up for a shot. Smith is whistled for a foul as her momentum carries her into Mace.

Great chance for Liverpool! Olivia Smith is again at the center of the move, showing great strength and positioning to win a ball down the line from Gemma Bonner. Smith quickly drives forward to the box and slides it back to Marie Höbinger, but the Austrian can't quite get the ball out of her feet and her shot lacks any power and is right at the keeper.

Liverpool quickly back on the attack, this time down the left. The ball is swing into the box and Lucy Parry is on hand to meet it. She gets a good strike on the ball, but again it is right into the body of the goalkeeper.

Leicester City look well offside, but play is allowed to continue. Rachael Laws is forced to make a diving save to turn the ball around the post for a corner kick in her first real action of the season.

Liverpool with a large majority of possession and have had the more dangerous of the chances, but Leicester City are showing they can be dangerous on the counter. Several times the Reds have had to scramble back to cover.

Liverpool flow forward in transition after winning the ball back in their own half. Marie Höbinger plays and excellent diagonal ball on the ground to Taylor Hinds flying down the left channel. Hinds has a couple of players to her right but elects to drive a shot towards goal from outside the box. The ball had venom and swerve, and looked to have the goalkeeper beaten, but the shot went just outside the near post.

Liverpool now forced into some emergency defending on two quick occasions. Rachael Laws deals with the first chance before Jenna Clark does well to put a curling cross over her own crossbar for a corner rather than an own goal. She had to make a play on the ball with an attacker running onto the ball.

GOAL LIVERPOOL!!! After Leicester City put the Reds under a spell of pressure, Liverpool earn a corner kick just before the half. As we saw so many times last season Marie Höbinger sends in a perfect delivery that is met by the head of Sophie Roman Haug. The Norwegian striker simply guides the ball with her head just inside the far post for the first goal of the season!

Second Half

Matt Beard makes a change to start the second half. Gemma Evans is withdrawn, with Jasmine Matthews taking her place in a like for like swap. Not sure if Evans was dealing with a niggle, but she played will in the first half, so the sub is a bit of a surprise.

Olivia Smith is going to be a problem for teams. It seems nigh unto impossible to get the ball off of her without fouling her. Of course, that would require the referee to call a blatant foul, which did not happen in this case. Ball fell to an fellow Liverpool player at least.

Goal Leicester City. The Foxes break quickly on the counter and drill a long diagonal pass from left to right. Taylor Hinds gets her leg up at full stretch while racing back, but can only get a toe to the ball and pop it into the patch of Jutta Rantala. The Finnish striker calmly advances on Rachael Laws and finishes by slotting the ball past the Liverpool goalkeeper in the 1v1 situation.

Liverpool look to retake the lead quickly after conceding. Ceri Holland again unleashes a powerful shot from outside the box, but Lizze Kop is again up to the task, this time getting low to make the save.

Matt Beard looks to get more attacking play, bringing on Mia Enderby for Jenna Clark. Liverpool will shift to a back four with Olivia Smith and Enderby flanking Sophie Roman Haug in a front three.

Wow, Olivia Smith is quite something. She beats several players down the right flank, starting deep in her own half, before playing an early cross. The ball is partially cleared and Liverpool regain possession and shift it wide to Taylor Hinds. The captain puts in a great delivery to the back post and Ceri Holland heads it from close range, but Kop comes flying across to keep the ball out of the net.

Liverpool make another change, bringing on Sofie Lundgaard for Marie Höbinger. Leanne Kiernan and Cornelia Kapocs come on a couple minutes later for Olivia Smith and Sophie Roman Haug.

Leanne Kiernan earns a free kick about 25 yards out. Fuka Nagano tries a sneaky early ball to Ceri Holland, but Holland's attempt is blocked out for a corner. Holland sends the ball in, but Kapocs is whistled for a foul as she attempts to win the ball back to keep it in the area.

Game is getting disjointed with several substitutions made by both sides and fouls coming in as both sides look to deny attacking looks. Neither team seems to be able to get much rhythm going with 15 minutes left to play.

Liverpool earn a corner that is cleared out. Taylor Hinds looks to win the ball back and is absolutely clotheslined and hauled down, and somehow the referee calls the foul AGAINST Hinds. At add insult to potential injury, Gemma Bonner remains down in the box after the corner kick sequence and needs treatment on her leg. She is able to return after a moment, thankfully.

Leanne Kiernan again wins a free kick, this time on the left flank. Ceri Holland sends the free kick in and Gemma Bonner rises to head it, but it loops just over the crossbar.

Leicester City are doing everything they can to walk away with a point, including some pretty blatant time wasting. The goalkeeper is finally shown a yellow card for slowing things down too much. There will be seven minutes of added time here for Liverpool to try and find a way through.

Lucy Parry with some good play down the right wing and she plays a great cross into the middle of the box. Three Liverpool players are on hand, but they seem to get into each others way. Leanne Kiernan is the one who gets her head to the ball, but she is moving away from goal the the ball just pops straight up into the air before it is cleared.

Leicester City put the ball in the net, but are flagged for being a decent ways offside. Still a heart in mouth moment with just a few minutes left to play.

Ceri Holland is an absolute machine. The midfielder makes yet another lung-busting recovery run to get back and tackle the ball away from Deanne Rose as she enters the Liverpool box. Rose had already run away from two Liverpool defenders before Holland interceded.

One last gasp chance for Liverpool as Fuka Nagano wins the ball. She plays it across to Ceri Holland on the right, but her cross is headed away. That's the last play of the match as it ends level.

Final Thoughts

Matt Beard will certainly be frustrated with the result. Liverpool dominated the match through the first half, but struggled to finish until just before the half. Leicester City showed they could cause problems on the counter, and they found the equalizer through a defensive error while in transition. Liverpool looked disjointed in the attack as the half wore on and struggled to create consistent chances as they only walk away with a point.

Despite the result, there are definitely some positives. Olivia Smith was extremely impressive in her debut for the Reds, and looks to be well worth the club record fee.

Liverpool will look to right the ship next weekend as they travel to London to take on West Ham. The Hammers dropped a 3-0 result to Manchester United in their opening match.