It was a really good performance from the Golden Girls on Sunday (January 16), as the team came agonisingly close to getting a result against the league leaders Liverpool.

The game remained scoreless for over 80 minutes, with Watford competing well with the side who were five points clear at the top.

In the end it was a set-piece that proved to be the difference, Megan Campbell’s long throw being finished by Katie Stengel from close range.

Gifton Noel-Williams’ first line-up contained three changes to the starting XI that had faced Coventry United almost a month ago.

Morgan Rogers made her debut for the club after signing earlier in the week, while there were returns for Rosie Kmita and Flo Fyfe.

The Hornets looked to make inroads early and they forced a couple of corners in the opening stages, which were well dealt with by the opposition defence.

It was a very encouraging opening quarter of an hour, with Georgie Ferguson not seriously tested in the Watford goal.

She would have to make one very good save though as the match approached the 20-minute mark, making a point-blank stop to keep out Niamh Fahey’s header. Yana Daniëls put the follow-up in but had strayed into an offside position.

The home side appeared to have a great opportunity when the league’s top scorer, Leanne Kiernan, was in plenty of space, however her attempt was relatively simple for Ferguson to hold.

Amber-Keegan Stobbs had looked comfortable in the right-back position but a knock would see Noel-Williams forced into a change prior to half-time, with Francesca Ali coming on in her place.

Liverpool did have a few slight openings before the interval, but they couldn’t find the target, meaning the two teams went to the break with the match scoreless.

It was a frantic start to proceedings in the second 45, with both sides having opportunities to break the deadlock.

Some brilliant work from Fyfe saw her get the past the opposition defender, with the resulting shot being deflected just wide of the left-hand post.

In the other box, Watford were putting everything on the line. Ryah Vyse did really well to block Fahey’s shot, and then when an attempt did get through from Rhiannon Roberts, Ferguson was impressive to keep out the stinging effort.

The end-to-end nature continued. Helen Ward tried to take it round the keeper, with Rachael Laws stopping it from happening by handling outside the area. It wasn’t deemed to be an obvious goalscoring opportunity by the official, with the Reds’ keeper being given a yellow card.

Despite Liverpool averaging two goals per game in the league prior to this encounter, they were struggling to break down an incredibly spirited Watford defence.

It would take an impact from long-throw specialist Campbell to turn matters in her team’s favour. The Golden Girls had defended them well throughout, but eventually the tactic worked, with it falling kindly to Stengel who finished from a few yards out.

That would prove to be the decisive moment. Liverpool had chances to increase the advantage with Watford looking for an equaliser, but 1-0 is how it stayed.

While the team’s trip to Birkenhead would ultimately result in not earning any points, it was certainly a display to be proud of, and one that will give huge encouragement to all of the players and coaching staff moving forward.

The key will now to be improve even further ahead of a big game coming up against Blackburn Rovers Ladies (Jan 23 – 3pm). Tickets for that fixture at Kings Langley are on sale now.