Reaction'Tough to take' - Gareth Taylor on Women's FA Cup semi-final loss
Gareth Taylor reflected on a result that was ‘tough to take’ after Liverpool FC Women lost to Brighton & Hove Albion in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup.
Sunday’s semi-final at St Helens Stadium was settled five minutes into stoppage time as Nadine Noordam scored to give Brighton a 3-2 win.
The Reds had led 2-0 at the midway point of the first half thanks to goals from Denise O’Sullivan and Beata Olsson.
Manuela Vanegas hit back straight away for the visitors, who equalised early in the second period through Madison Haley before grabbing the place in the final at the end.
An eventful tie saw opportunities at each end and both teams hit the woodwork, while late claims for a Liverpool penalty were rejected.
“Tough to take,” head coach Taylor said post-match.
“We weren’t great second half. Nor was the referee; I don’t know if it’s a penalty or not but a lot of decisions went against us, a lot of inconsistency with yellow cards for us but not for Brighton. And those moments matter.
“I think we started the game really well. Conceded a poor goal obviously, from being 2-0 up.
“Brighton were better than us second half, they had numerous corners where we looked vulnerable and we concede from too many corners.”
Liverpool had been the better side for much of the opening 45 minutes, but the momentum was mostly with the Seagulls after the interval.
Asked to assess the difference between the two halves, Taylor said: “They just gained territory, they got to grips with how we were playing, put us under a lot of pressure.
“We then have to go a little bit more direct and they regain possession and start to hurt us with the ball. And we start to suffer a little bit physically and they gain momentum.
“We changed things by bringing Aurélie [Csillag] on and trying to get more pressure to the ball and then allow us to maintain possession.
“It was a lot of control from Brighton in the second half, more than we would have liked.”