Everton Women started off the WSL campaign strongly, smashing Liverpool 4-1 at Anfield via a hat trick from winger Ornella Vignola in just 70 minutes on the pitch.
And so there was plenty of excitement around the first women's match at Goodison Park, which was updated last week to show itself as the home of Everton Women now that the men's squad has moved to Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Unfortunately, Everton's moment was stolen by a generally dominant performance from Tottenham Hotspur Women, who won 2-0 on the day, with goals from Olga Ahtinen and a clever shot from near the halfway line from Cathinka Tandberg, who saw Everton goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan off her line and sailed it over her head and into the goal.
Despite seeing more of the ball than their opponents, Everton were not nearly as clinical as they were against Liverpool, creating zero big chances and managing just 10 shots, none of which were on target. Seven of those ten were blocked by Spurs.
Everton managed an xG of just 0.61, a good indication of how difficult it was for the ladies to create any meaningful chances after capitalizing on difficult opportunities and scoring anyway against Liverpool just one week prior.
Manager Brian Sørensen will need to take this one back to the drawing board, so to speak, in order to get his squad back on track. Although they sit in 5th after two matches in the WSL table, their next match comes against the side currently sitting at the bottom of the table, the London City Lionesses.
That match will kick off this Friday at 7:30 PM UK time at Goodison Park. After that, Everton won't return to the Grand Old Lady for three straight matches: a Women's League Cup contest away to Manchester City, then at Brighton and Leicester on successive Sundays as September turns into October.
It is still early in the WSL campaign, so Everton can without a doubt recover from this outcome and fight for the top-3 and Champions League qualification. But the bumpy beginning at Goodison Park was certainly not in the plans; so they'll need to bounce back on Friday and get on a winning run.