Liverpool fell to their fifth straight defeat after a Rachel Daly penalty helped Aston Villa to a 1-0 victory in the Women's Super League.
The hosts took to the field at Prenton Park looking to pick up three points ahead of the upcoming international break. It's been a testing start for Matt Beard's side since their return to the top flight of the women's game, with the Reds having failed to win since their shock victory over Chelsea on the opening day of the season.
The Liverpool boss made two changes to the side that was beaten by Manchester City last weekend, with Rachel Furness deputising for injured midfielder Ceri Holland and Missy Bo Kearns replaced by Yana Daniels. Villa travelled to Merseyside in the hopes of avoiding a third consecutive league defeat, and Carla Ward named an unchanged XI from the team that lost to Chelsea last time out.
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It was a fairly even contest in the opening stages, with both sides looking dangerous on the attack without carving out too many clear-cut chances. Jasmine Matthews, urged on by the crowd, took on a strike from the edge of the area after half an hour, however her low, left-footed drive was deflected wide.
The Reds' best chance of the half fell to Emma Koivisto after some excellent work by Katie Stengel helped the home side to regain possession in Villa's penalty area. However, the Finnish international saw her shot curl wide of the post on 41 minutes.
Despite an intense spell of Liverpool pressure, the visitors spurned a huge opportunity to take the lead on the stroke of half-time. Alisha Lehmann picked up the ball on the edge of her own 18-yard box and was allowed to run the length of the pitch before her shot was tipped onto the post thanks to a fine bit of goalkeeping by Rachael Laws.
Aston Villa did take the lead early in the second half, with the visitors awarded a penalty after Laws was adjudged to have fouled Kirsty Hanson inside the area. Despite protests from the Liverpool players, Daly converted from the spot to give the Villans the lead inside 57 minutes.
The goal seemed disrupt the momentum the Liverpool had started to build late in the first half and Beard turned to his bench after 72 minutes, with Kearns and Shanice van de Sanden brought on to replace Furness and Daniels.
Van de Sanden, whose return from injury has helped to bolster Liverpool's attacking options, helped to stretch the Villa defence with her pace and fired in a tantalising cross which was claimed by Anna Leat. Rhiannon Roberts and Carla Humphrey were brought for the closing stages however they could do little to reverse the Reds' fortunes.
The defeat marks the first time Liverpool have lost five games consecutively since a run between October and December 2018. They currently sit tenth in the table with two weeks before they're next in action against Brighton.
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