Goals from Simone Magill and an outrageous effort from Tash Harding shared the spoils as the Toffees and Royals played out a competitive draw.
Everton came into this game knowing a win would lift them into second place in the WSL and keep them in contention at the top while Reading were looking for their first win in four games after back-to-back draws against Manchester City and Tottenham.
The opening twenty minutes were heavily effected by the conditions, heavy rain and wind disrupted a lot of the efforts from the two sides in possession and outside from an effort from Nicoline Sorensen that sailed over the bar less than a minute into the tie, neither goalkeeper had a lot to particularly worry about.
As the half wore on, Reading looked much more comfortable linking together with creative sweeping passes, Jess Fishlock and Tash Harding pulling the strings early in the game.
Reading were able to frustrate Everton for much of the first half, winning the midfield battles and dispossessing the Toffees consistently but were not able to convert those efforts into shots on goal, a testament to the resolute defence of the Merseyside outfit.
It would be the Toffees that would open the scoring against the run of play as a shot by Sorensen was kept out by the feet of Grace Moloney but the ball would bounce up and was headed into the open net by Simone Magill to give Everton a one-nil lead.
Reading would respond almost instantly as Tash Harding unleashed a moment of absolute brilliance.
From the corner of the eighteen-yard box, Harding put her head down and struck a looping, curling shot that flew over a frozen Sandy MacIver and rippled the side netting for her first goal of the season, a goal which levelled the scoring at halftime one-one.
Reading would lose Emma Mitchell at halftime due to injury, with Lily Woodham coming on to replace her. At the hour mark, Reading would also bring on Fara Williams who was returning to the side from an injury.
Williams would almost have an immediate impact as she crossed in a free kick won by fellow substitute Lauren Bruton, the free kick was met by the head of Kristine Leine, her header flying just past the post.
As the conditions improved at the ground, the game tightened up considerably, with the impressive defence and passing of both teams seemingly cancelling each other out.
Throughout the second half, Everton looked to play the ball out wide and this proved successful as they arguably had the better of the game, with Hayley Raso and Sorensen giving the Reading fullbacks a lot of work to do.
Conversely, the Royals struggled with connecting on the decisive pass to get them into dangerous positions, the build up was as impressive as it was in the first half but the final pass always seemed to be misplaced which left Reading on the back foot.
With thirty seconds left in injury time, an Everton free kick was headed towards goal and was saved spectacularly by Grace Moloney to rescue a draw for Reading.
The result lifts Everton into third ahead of Chelsea before their game tomorrow against Arsenal while Reading’s third draw in a row sees them drop to seventh after Birmingham beat Aston Villa to move up.
Both teams will try to get back to winning ways by hosting sides at opposite ends of the table, Everton facing Manchester City while Reading welcome the WSL’s bottom side Bristol City.
The Inbound Observer 