Ornella Vignola follows in footsteps of Everton great as Liverpool Anfield curse goes on

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New Liverpool Women head coach Gareth Taylor’s pre-match call for patience among supporters was justified by their ongoing failure to banish the Anfield curse against neighbours Everton.

For the Blues, though, summer signing Ornella Vignola wasted no time in making her mark with a historic debut to help the visitors open the Women’s Super League in emphatic fashion.

Vignola followed in the footsteps of Everton great Dixie Dean by scoring a hat-trick at Anfield as the Brian Sorensen’s side romped to a 4-1 triumph on Sunday afternoon.



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The 20-year-old arrival from Spanish side Granada was the stellar performer forthe Blues, who rode their luck during a largely one-sided first half before three goals either side of the interval sent Liverpool tumbling to yet another defeat to their city rivals at the stadium.

It was perhaps asking a lot for the Reds to end that hoodoo here, given Taylor has had less than a month to work with his new charges and much of the club’s summer transfer business having been concentrated on Thursday’s deadline day when four new players were recruited.

And while there were signs of encouragement, particularly during an opening period in which they led through a wonderful solo effort from Cornelia Kapocs, some of the shortcomings that underpinned a disappointing previous campaign – not least in defence – were ruthlessly exposed by Everton.

Liverpool started with two new signings – including Sam Kerr, who spent part of last season on loan with the club – with a further three among the substitutes.

Vignola, meanwhile, was one of six summer arrivals in the visiting starting line-up with the Blues having gone big in the market, aided by strong backing from new club owners The Friedkin Group.

The perceived wisdom Liverpool have tended not to gain proper reward for their efforts in this fixture in recent years wasn’t challenged by a first half in which they dominated but somehow found themselves behind.

After a strong start from the home side in which Ceri Holland emerged as a regular threat down the right, they went ahead on 12 minutes.

It was a good goal, too.

Marie-Therese Hobinger played the ball down the left for Kapocs to chase, with the winger then racing down the flank, cutting inside her marker and then thrashing the ball in off the underside of the crossbar from 12 yards.

The Reds almost doubled their lead shortly afterwards with Hobinger again the creator, dropping a deep free-kick from the left to the far post where it was met by a flying volley from Gemma Bonner, only for Courtney Brosnan to make superb save by tipping the shot on to the crossbar.

Everton had barely got out of their own half.

But they were level on 24 minutes with a devastating counter-attack from a Liverpool corner, Hayley Ladd releasing Vignola into acres of space down the right before the forward, on reaching the penalty area, twisted inside and curled into the bottom corner.

Liverpool, though, continued to dominate and Holland almost put them back ahead with a shot that struck the post.

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But a brief flurry from the Blues before half-time turned the game in their favour, going ahead in the third minute of additional time when Mayumi Pacheco’s cross from the left was headed in by skipper Katja Snoeijs.

Everton were unduly concerned after that, with two goals in two minutes shortly after the interval taking the game away from Liverpool and earning Vignola a hat-trick.

The first on 54 minutes saw her head in another Pacheco cross off the bar, although there was a touch of fortune with her treble strike with an effort that took a wicked deflection off Lily Woodham.

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And that was more or less that, the Liverpool support deflated apart while a section of a few hundred Everton fans in the corner for the Sir Kenny Dalglish side revelled in the afternoon.

When it comes to the WSL, Anfield remains very much Blue.

LIVERPOOL (4-1-4-1): Kirby; Fisk, Bonner, Evans, Woodham (Shimizu 88); Nagano (Maclean 64); Holland, Kerr, Hobinger (Haug 81), Kopacs (Olsson 64); Enderby.

BOOKING: Nagano.

EVERTON (4-2-3-1): Brosnan; Robinson (Holmgaard 46), Ishikawa, Fernandez, Pacheco; Ladd (Mace 46), Van Gool; Mokimi, Snoeijs (Payne 80), Hayashi (Wheeler 46); Vignola (Gago 70).