Manchester United secured a 5-3 win over Liverpool in an entertaining Subway Players Cup encounter at St Helens Stadium on Wednesday evening, despite a remarkable late hat-trick from Cornelia Kapocs.
United looked to have secured a comfortable victory after taking a three-goal lead into half-time. However, Liverpool fought back in the closing stages, with Kapocs scoring three times in just 12 minutes.
Lea Schüller opened the scoring in the 10th minute after a brilliant long pass from inside United's half. The forward raced towards goal and beat a hesitant Khiara Keating to give the visitors an early advantage.
Liverpool responded with spells of possession but struggled to create clear chances.
Lily Woodham was particularly lively down the left, making several attacking runs, while Mao Itamura impressed with her movement and footwork.
United, meanwhile, looked dangerous whenever they attacked.
Keating made an excellent one-on-one save to deny Monica Jusu Bah in the 30th minute, but there was little she could do when United doubled their lead 11 minutes later.
Simi Awujo found Mared Griffiths outside the penalty area. Griffiths drove forward, turned and fired a shot that took a deflection before finding the net.
Three minutes later, Griffiths scored again following an excellent team move.
Schüller found Julia Zigiotti on the right, and the midfielder beat her marker before squaring the ball to Griffiths, who finished from close range.
United went into the break leading 3–0.
Awujo was one of the visitors' standout performers. Although she did not score, her work in midfield was important, particularly in the first half when she limited Fuka Nagano's influence and forced Liverpool to attack through the wings.
Nagano was making her 100th appearance for Liverpool.
The hosts showed more attacking intent after the restart. Itamura went narrowly wide in the 51st minute, while Nagano had an effort comfortably saved by Janina Leitzig shortly afterwards.
However, another mistake at the back allowed United to extend their lead in the 72nd minute.
Following a Liverpool corner, the ball was played back to Keating, who attempted a pass towards the left. Jusu Bah intercepted it, raced towards goal and finished confidently to make it 4–0.
Liverpool finally found a breakthrough four minutes later.
A well-worked move ended with Alice Bergström delivering a fine pass to substitute Kapocs, who tapped home from close range.
United responded almost immediately, with captain Maya Le Tissier finding space inside the penalty area to score the visitors' fifth goal in the 78th minute.
But Liverpool were not finished.
Their continued attacking pressure paid off in the 85th minute when Kapocs scored her second, with Woodham involved in the build-up.
Three minutes later, Woodham provided another assist as Kapocs struck from inside the box into the bottom-left corner to complete her hat-trick.
The late goals gave Liverpool renewed energy, but United held on through four minutes of added time to secure a 5–3 victory.
It was another win for United against Liverpool, having beaten them 1–0 in the Women's Super League earlier this month.
For Liverpool, Kapocs' hat-trick and Woodham's attacking display provided positives on an otherwise difficult evening.
