Everton defeat Nottingham Forest on penalties in League Cup

Everton collected a Subway Women’s League Cup bonus point after defeating Nottingham Forest 4-3 on penalties at Goodison Park this afternoon.

The two sides played out a 1-1 draw in normal time before the hosts held their nerve to win the subsequent penalty shootout and claim an additional point.

Everton started the stronger of the two sides and Kelly Gago had a shot at goal, but visiting keeper Emily Batty did well to stop the ball with her feet. Honoka Hayashi was then presented with an opportunity, but her shot went just wide of the net.

Katie Robinson did well to play the ball to Maz Pacheco, who tried her luck at goal, but her powerful shot went just out of play. Gago then made a strong run down the left-hand side and found Robinson perfectly, however, her shot hit the crossbar and went over.

Down the other end, Ebba Hed angled the ball to try to find teammate Nahikari Garcia, but she couldn’t make contact and it went wide.

The Toffees once again found themselves in the penalty area and Gago fired the ball at goal, but it went over the bar.

The final real chance of the first half came from a Nottingham Forest free-kick, but Emily Ramsey punched the ball away.

Early in the second half, Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah had an attempted shot at goal, but Ramsey was alert and caught the ball well. The Reds then won a penalty which Aimee Claypole stepped up to take. She positioned the ball perfectly and sent it into the bottom right corner.

Just moments after Nottingham Forest took the lead, Gago levelled for Everton. She capitalised on a sloppy back-pass from Hed and curled a shot past Batty.

Clare Wheeler fired over as Everton searched for the winner before Ramsey did well to deny Boye-Hlorkah at the other end.

In the end, the scores were tied at 1-1 after normal-time and the winner was to be decided on penalty kicks. In the shootout, Everton netted four of their five penalties as they secured the bonus point with a 4-3 success.

After two rounds of matches, Nottingham Forest sit in second place in the group while Everton are in third.

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