Sunderland 2 Liverpool 2

KELLY McDOUGALL’S late equaliser for Sunderland Ladies and denied Liverpool the chance to close on the league leaders.

In a thrilling contest at Hetton Centre, Beth Mead put Sunderland ahead with a penalty, before Natasha Dowie’s sublime long-range lob and Rosie White’s composed finish saw the visitors lead inside the final ten minutes.

Yet the Black Cats hit back as McDougall turned home during a frantic finale to ensure the hosts move a point ahead of Arsenal at the top of FA Women’s Super League with BT Sport.

The Black Cats took the lead on 23 minutes when Mead was felled by Rebecca Easton in the area and converted the resulting penalty.

Dowie levelled in brilliant fashion five minutes later as she produced a stunning strike to lob Sunderland keeper Hilde Gunn Olsen from 30 yards and make it 1-1 at the interval.

The Reds seized the advantage as White burst through one-on-one to fire past Olsen on 68 minutes only for McDougall to slot Abby Holmes’ cut-back under Libby Stout in the 88th minute.

And despite riding a late Liverpool storm to ensure the point, Mead insists securing a point against the reigning champions shows how far her side has come.

“We see it as two points dropped,” said Mead. “That’s the standards we have set ourselves now to come away from a game against Liverpool and be disappointed with a draw.

“At the start of the season we would have snapped your hand off just to stay in the league, but now we want to win every game.

“We have got four more cup finals and for that we have to prepare properly. We also need a bit of luck to help get us over the line.

“We’ll be watching the Arsenal v Manchester City game closely now, we want to see how teams around us do and I guess a draw might be best for us.”

Liverpool remain nine points adrift of Sunderland, but captain Bonner believes her side’s lively performance bodes well for a late run back into contention.

“For us it was near enough the best we have played all season and there were plenty of positives to take, even though it was disappointing to concede at the end,” said Bonner.

“It could’ve gone either way after they scored first but after that we dominated the ball and should’ve finished it off.

“It was a brilliant strike for Natasha – it was very far out but she saw the keeper off her line and pulled it off so she’ll get that extra confidence now and hopefully can push on.

“There were chances for both sides but they took theirs – even though after that we still could’ve won.

“I don’t know where this leaves us but we’re taking each game as it comes and lots of things can still happen – we saw that with Bristol beating Notts County.”

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