Feds took an early lead, with a counterattack strike before the third minute, leaving Lightning chasing early on into the game. Lightning looked to respond quickly, with Evie Williams showing strong intent down the wing, but the run was halted by the offside flag. Another strong chance of the first half came around the 18-minute mark from Ella Jarowicki, where a breakthrough on goal was shut down by a meticulous tackle from the Feds to deny the equaliser.
Despite these promising chances from Lightning, Feds doubled their lead within the first 30 minutes with a goal tucked into the bottom right corner, leaving the hosts 2-0 down.
Lightning responded positively, closing out the half with a sustained spell of pressure. A series of corners and set pieces, and a close, powerful strike from Conway, kept the visitors’ defence occupied, whilst down the other end Murphy produced some spectacular saves to stop Feds from adding a third before the break to keep Lightning’s hopes alive.
After the break, Lightning emerged with renewed intent, starting the half off strong with early chances and forcing a corner in the first 15 minutes of the half. The first substitution of the game saw the introduction of Davies for West shortly after half-time, with Mutch coming on for Rogers not that long after to inject some fresh energy to maintain Lightning’s momentum. Lightning were not long after rewarded with a corner, which they couldn’t capitalise on.
The hosts continued to apply pressure, with the defence catching Feds offside in the 70th minute to deny them the opportunity to extend their lead further. On the counterattack, the ball was forced out for a Lightning corner.
The breakthrough seemingly came in the 72nd minute from a left-foot strike from Langman beating the keeper, but the celebrations didn’t last long after the goal was disallowed for a foul on the Feds’ goalkeeper.
Lightning continued to search for this breakthrough in the closing stages of the game, introducing Chads for Conway in the 76th minute, before McMaster was booked with just over 10 minutes left to play.
The most threatening chance after the disallowed goal came from Evie Williams, where her out-the-box shot struck the crossbar at the 81 minute-mark, summing up Lightning’s afternoon of creating the chances but not quite being able to finish them off.
Late changes of Spillman in for Jarowicki and Thompson in for Davies in the 88th and 90th minutes were Lightning’s last attempt to gain something from the match, but the hosts were still unable to beat the Feds defence, with the game finishing at 2-0.
Despite several promising chances, shifts in momentum and an improved second-half performance, Lightning were unable to recover from Liverpool Feds WFC’s early advantage, settling for the 2-0 loss at home.
A promising afternoon of chances, but unable to capitalise, Lightning currently sit 9th in the table. The team look ahead to their first round of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup away against Nottingham Trent next Sunday, before returning to league action against the current table toppers Rugby Borough on the 28th of October.
1.T. Murphy, 6. H. Langford, 54. E. West (N. Davies, 52’, D. Thompson, 90’), 2. E. McMaster, 23. E. Williams, 35. O. Mitchell Ramon, 30. M. Rogers © (L. Mutch, 65’), 7. F. Powell, 19. I. Conway (L. Chads, 76’), 22. D. Greenwood, 25. E. Jarowicki (G. Spillman, 88’), Unused subs: B. Kingerley, S. Kennedy.