Karen Hills proud at way Charlton ‘outplayed’ leaders Liverpool despite 1-0 defeat

Jasmine Matthews’ late winner helped Liverpool continue their march towards the FA Women’s Championship title with a dramatic 1-0 win against Charlton Athletic.

The Addicks were the better side throughout, but the league leader’s quality showed as a brilliant header from Jasmine Matthews sealed the three points.

It took the Reds until the 83rd minute to force Eartha Cumings to make a save, and she was equal to the task.

A left-footed strike from Yana Daniels was tipped away superbly by the Charlton keeper, but from the resulting corner she had no chance as Matthews’ header rifled into the back of the net to the delight of the travelling fans.

Liverpool held on for their 13th league win of the campaign and in arguably their most challenging game of the season so far.

The hosts started brightly and grew in confidence as the first half went on.

Ella Rutherford went close with a free-kick from distance that drifted just wide.

And 10 minutes later, she nearly broke the deadlock with a strong header that was tipped on to the crossbar and over by Rachael Laws.

The second half started in a similar fashion to the first, with Charlton looking likely to break the deadlock, constantly getting into the final third but failing to make it count.

And ultimately, they were made to rue their missed opportunities as the Reds snatched the three points late on.

The Addicks and the Reds meet again next week on Merseyside.

Charlton manager Karen Hills said: “I’m disappointed. I don’t like losing football matches, but I can’t be any prouder of my group of players.

“They worked really hard and made Liverpool work really hard for the victory.

“I’m proud of the grit and determination from my players. We’ve come a very long way in such a short space of time. We’ve got a lot of young players – Mia Ross in the centre of the pitch today, 18 years old. She absolutely dominated and played so well.

“We’ve got a young squad that’s up and coming, and it’s taken Liverpool to get a set-piece from us.

“We know it’s a work in progress in the final third, and scoring goals is the hardest part of the game, and unfortunately we weren’t able to take our chances when we had chances.

“We’ve got to go up there next week and play them again. We know what we’ve got to do. We played some really attractive, nice football today. “We’re not going to change too much. The mentality, the work rate, the togetherness was outstanding. We outplayed Liverpool today in patches and were the better team. All we need to do is be more consistent.”

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PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD