London City Lionesses Women 2-1 Everton Women: Cascarino and Godfrey see off battling Blues
Everton Women suffered defeat at the RELOC8 EM Community Stadium, going down 2-1 to a London City Lionesses side who moved up to third in the Women's Super League table. The result leaves Everton in sixth place on nine points, with the Lionesses now unbeaten in five league outings heading into this fixture.
London City made the breakthrough in the 24th minute when Delphine Cascarino slotted home from the centre of the box after being teed up by Daniëlle van de Donk. The hosts doubled their advantage just over ten minutes later, Freya Godfrey curling a left-footed effort into the bottom corner from outside the area, assisted by Grace Geyoro, to make it 2-0 at the break.
Everton improved after the interval and made a triple change just past the hour mark, bringing on Hannah Cain, Noémie Mouchon and Aurora Galli for Ornella Vignola, Rosa van Gool and Clare Wheeler. The switch paid dividends almost immediately, as Cain headed home from a Holly McNamara cross in the 71st minute to halve the deficit and set up a nervy finish.
London City had already made a first-half change of their own, with Janni Thomsen replacing the injured Lucía Corrales just before the break, and they shuffled their pack further in the second period as Nicole Anyomi and Alexia Putellas came on for Freya Godfrey and Cascarino. Anyomi picked up a yellow card late on for the hosts, who also brought on Nikita Parris and María Pérez in stoppage time as they saw out the win.
Everton pushed for a leveller but could not find a way through, with London City's defence holding firm to secure the three points. The hosts finished with the greater share of possession at 54.5 per cent and had 16 shots to Everton's six, though Everton were sharper in front of goal with three shots on target from six attempts compared to five from sixteen for the Lionesses. Courtney Brosnan made three saves between the posts for Everton, while her opposite number Elene Lete was called into action twice.
The defeat means Everton have now won three, drawn none and lost three of their opening six league matches, sitting on nine points and a goal difference of minus one. London City, by contrast, have lost just once all season and moved above Everton into the top three with fifteen points from six games.
Attention now turns to how Everton respond in their next outing as they look to climb back up the table after this setback on the road.
Written with the help of AI, using the match facts and the headlines from the publishers credited above. Each point links to the original report — tap the source name to read it in full.
