A group of well-choreographed, fancy-dress-wearing school-age dancers fully embraced the Halloween spirit on Saturday as they boogied to one of Michael Jackson’s greatest hits at half-time here. Alas, the match itself was no thriller. For Manchester United, the only scary thing about this game was how little they tested Courtney Brosnan in Everton’s goal in the first 75 minutes as they demonstrated their lack of creativity.
Brosnan did well to save from Elisabeth Terland’s strike, as United grew into the game late on and began to apply some pressure, but this was a fixture worthy of finishing goalless or – as Sky Sports put it – ghoul-less. Terland has scored five Women’s Super League goals against Everton, but Brosnan was equal to her close-range shot after Jess Park’s through ball. Out of possession, we were late, jumping late, to the individual duels, and in-possession we missed that creativity or connections we were having in the last matches.” Everton, who are winless in all 15 WSL meetings with United, will bee the happier with the point, and their encouraging performance, but they missed the opportunity to climb above their opponents into fourth and might wish they could have converted some of their good midfield play.
Their former Manchester United full-back Hannah Blundell hooked a dangerous effort, left-footed, towards the top corner in the first half, but her shot was saved by Phallon Tullis-Joyce, who also held on to shots – directed straight at her – from Ornella Vignola either side of the break. Rosa van Gool and Yuka Momiki were combining well for Everton in midfield to frustrate United. United had won away at Everton in the past four seasons, but they were second best in the first half and unable to break the deadlock in the closing stages, despite making improvements after Simi Awujo came on.
United have been on a positive run, winning three and drawing one of their previous four WSL matches, the derby against Manchester City through a morale-boosting late equaliser, as well as enjoying a 100% record in the Players Cup, but they were stifled by an Everton side whose midfield kept the ball well. Olid, who took over from Marc Skinner in August, said: “After such a positive performance on Sunday [against City] there is always that question – [are we] going to keep that standard or are we going to go a little down, like a hangover after that good match? I expected we would be better than we were.
If this has to happen for us to learn and improve, we are going to do that.” A Park effort sailed high over the bar, after an Andrea Medina shot was blocked inside the Everton area, but otherwise there was relatively little to note of United’s first hour, from an attacking perspective. This was Everton’s first draw of the league campaign, after three wins and four defeats, and they climbed above Arsenal – who play on Sunday – into sixth. They remain two points behind United, as Scott Phelan continues to oversee a steady – if unspectacular – spell in charge.
The Everton head coach said: “In the first half, I thought we were competitive, we showed some good bits with the ball. We just probably lacked a little bit of end product and belief in our game to finish the good passages of play we had. Second half, not so much, but it did highlight the togetherness of the team and the defensive organisation.” His team certainly did look defensively well-organised.
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