When the Crystal Palace midfielder My Cato found herself with the ball on the left, in the first minute at the VBS Community Stadium, the Everton defence followed, three of the back four shifting across and then looking back over their shoulders in horror as an unmarked Indiah-Paige Riley controlled the pass from Cato in the middle before slotting home.
If there was a moment to symbolise Everton’s woes this season this was it, their defensive structure collapsing in an instant against Palace before the game had really begun. It was the fifth time in seven Women’s Super League games that the injury-hit side had conceded inside 15 minutes, four of those coming inside eight minutes. Against a Chelsea or a Manchester United, that can be forgiven to some extent, but that the other three early concessions have come against their fellow relegation battlers Leicester, West Ham and now Palace, cannot.
