WHAT HAPPENED
Our perfect start to 2021/22 continued on Sunday as we beat Reading 4-0 at the Madejski Stadium.
Jonas Eidevall’s side have now won each of their opening six fixtures across all competitions, maintaining their impressive high-intensity, high-pressing style throughout.
Coming into this game off the back of a 4-0 victory over Slavia Prague, confidence was high and we instantly took charge of the game, pinning the Royals back and playing passes with pace and precision.
We continued to find space behind Reading’s defence, but in the end it was a corner routine that handed us our opener, as Jennifer Beattie headed home from Katie McCabe’s delivery.
Beth Mead then went on to double our advantage by scoring her third goal of the Women’s Super League season, rifling a first-time effort into the top corner with her weaker left foot.
We were in full control, carving through the Royals with ease, and before the break we found ourselves three goals to the good. Leah Williamson stepped into midfield and played a defence-splitting pass into the path of Mead, who cut back inside from the right with a subtle feint, before picking out Vivianne Miedema inside the area.
Of course, our No 11 made no mistake in finding the bottom corner.
The duo, dubbed ‘Meadema’ by our fans, then went on to combine once again for our fourth of the afternoon shortly after the restart. Having picked up the ball on the right wing, Mead sent a whipped delivery into the penalty area and Miedema was on hand to guide a stunning header effort back across goal and into the far corner.
It was no less than we deserved for yet another dominant performance - but there were two more reasons to celebrate late on, as Alex Hennessy and Halle Houssein were handed their full debuts for the club after impressing in pre-season.
WHAT IT MEANS
WHAT’S NEXT
The players will now head away on international duty, before returning for our Women’s Super League clash with Manchester City.
The game will be played at Meadow Park with kick-off at 6.45pm (UK time).
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