Jessie Fleming, Sam Kerr and Aggie Beever-Jones were on the scoresheet against Everton as the Blues recorded a fourth consecutive league victory on a cold and wet afternoon at Walton Hall Park, our fifth win from six league matches this season.

Fleming opened the scoring with a beautifully taken right-footed volley inside the opening 15 minutes. Kerr doubled our advantage just after the hour mark with a clinical finish before substitute Beever-Jones scored a superb solo goal.

On reflection, Hayes was pleased with how we started the game. The manager felt we allowed Everton to gain some control over proceedings in the latter stages of the first half, before regaining our composure to get the job done in the second.

‘I thought we were solid in the first 30 minutes and created a good goal through Jessie Fleming,' Hayes stated post-match. 'We took our foot off the pedal and Everton then grew into the game. They started to dominate the duels both aerially and on the ground.

‘They were deserving of going in at half-time with at least a goal, but Ann-Katrin Berger kept us in it. We made some adjustments and we had much more control in the second half. A really well-taken goal from Sam Kerr and then a brilliant goal from Aggie Beever-Jones at the end.’

There was a period towards the end of the first half when Everton appeared to be in the ascendency and although we appeared to suffer momentarily, Hayes was happy that we managed to stand firm and preserve our second clean sheet in as many matches.

‘We got stuck a little bit playing out from the back, particularly towards the left-hand side, but sometimes that’s execution rather than positional problems.

‘Players improved with it but there was a moment, particularly the second part of the first half, where I thought we really struggled. It eased off as the game went and it’s clean sheet, so I’ll take it.’

Our opening goal of the afternoon was a first of the season for Fleming. Hayes was delighted to see the Canadian get amongst the goals and has set our midfielder the challenge of adding an attacking aspect to her game.

‘Her and I have spoken about it this week,' added Emma. 'She’s had a really good start to the season. She has to start adding those things and she knows that.

‘She wants that and I’m really pleased for her.’