Haug turns and volleys home! I think this may go down as an own goal from Daphne van Domselaar though – it struck the post and rebounded in off the goalkeeper’s back.
77 mins: There’s simply been no football played in the last five minutes.
76 mins: This is getting very stop-start, with Holland now down too after McCabe goes in, wins the ball and then clatters in. Not much sympathy from the Arsenal player either.
74 mins: Another lengthy injury delay here as Hinds goes down. Looks like we’re ready to restart but referee Stacey Pearson is having a conflab with the players and her assistants.
Chelsea 1-0 Crystal Palace is the score in the other game. Lauren James has just broken the deadlock for the WSL league leaders.
70 mins: Liverpool clear, clear and clear again. They’re digging in. Can they get the ball to Smith on the counter to create something?
69 mins: It might just be my perception, but I think Liverpool are getting a bit tired here. They’ve done a fair amount of defending today – along with some adventurous attacking work at times – but gaps are beginning to open up.
Mariona Caldentey skies a shot from the edge of the box.
66 mins: Laws has been sprung into action by a fine header from Maanum, who met Williamson’s cross very firmly, but the Liverpool goalkeeper may have hurt herself in the process. Looks like she landed awkwardly.
65 mins: Arsenal are finally starting to maintain some dominance and carving out chances.
Laws in the Liverpool goal has hardly been worked, mind, and Van Domselaar has looked a little error-prone at the other end.
62 mins: Liverpool are going to introduce Gemma Evans for Jasmine Matthews at the back.
61 mins: Catley goes close! Her volley wasn’t particularly powerful but it was nearly perfectly aimed, following a post-corner melee. Just past the post.
59 mins: Van Domselaar now does something good. A sprawling save from her to deny Hobinger, who hit a decent shot across the face of goal.
58 mins: Daphne van Domselaar nearly repeats her mistake from the first half, passing it straight to Haug under very little pressure. She’s having a shocking game, the Arsenal keeper.
56 mins: Arsenal fans scream foul play after Smith renews her battle with McCabe and it is indeed a free-kick for the home side, who are again struggling to maintain any control.
54 mins: McCabe goes in the book for a cynical trip on Olivia Smith. That’s pretty much been the only way for Arsenal have been able to handle the tricky Liverpool right-winger. She’s been electric.
52 mins: Russo flashes a shot over the bar after a nifty turn. Better from Arsenal, this.
51 mins: Foord again causes confusion in the Liverpool defence with a bouncing, dropping cross that Rachael Laws should have collected but didn’t.
It brings about an Arsenal corner, which McCabe delivers well, but everyone misses.
50 mins: Foord nearly fashions a chance after making inroads on the right flank. The Liverpool defence squeeze it away.
49 mins: A couple of young Arsenal fans unfurl an Irish flag with Katie McCabe’s face in the centre of the stripes. She’s a very popular figure at Meadow Park.
And she’s seeing lots of the ball early in the second half.
47 mins: The second half has started in similar fashion to the first – lots of Arsenal possession in their own half.
Second half: We go again. Renée Slegers clearly wasn’t happy with that first half Arsenal display but it’s probably a change she’s been forced into, in ushering on Frida Maanum for Beth Mead. Mead took a hefty knock towards the end of the first half.
The players are back on the pitch and we’re ready to get back under way.
There’s the small matter of Arsenal’s men taking on a besieged Manchester United side later this afternoon, too.
Like with this game, the Gunners should really win it, if we’re going off the formbook.
Just a reminder that if the game does finish level after 90 minutes, we will have extra time and penalties.
There’s little to separate the sides, clearly.
The stoppage time period was short of goalmouth action, a microcosm of the half itself really. Arsenal began the game confidently and in control but Liverpool have gradually asserted themselves on the contest and have actually carved out the better openings.
Sophie Haug’s chance just before the break was the biggest chance, but there’s been precious little to write home about in truth. Let’s hope for more entertainment in the second half. Arsenal, in particular, have to improve.
Three minutes are added on.
45 mins: Wow, that’s a chance for Haug, for Liverpool but it’s spurned. It came from another Van Domselaar error – a mis-kick gifting possession to the Liverpool striker but she couldn’t take it in her stride and the angle narrowed. Straight at the keeper in the end.
Probably the biggest chance of the game, that.
43 mins: These delays may translate to a fair bit of added time at the end of this first half. Haug is at least back on her feet after staying down for a period.
42 mins: Sophie Haug is now down clutching her head as well, after an aerial battle with Leah Williamson.
40 mins: Beth Mead has taken a whack, potentially on the head, and needs a minute to get some medical treatment. It gives both sides the chance to grab a drink, much-needed in these warm early spring conditions.
Source: theguardian.com
