ROYALS LOOKED TO END STICKY PATCH IN TOFFEES CLASH

Kelly Chambers’ team have endured a disappointing start to this year’s Women’s Super League season and have lost all three of their matches so far.

They started with an opening day defeat at Manchester United, followed by a heavy home defeat by Arsenal and most recently a late away loss to Tottenham Hotspur.

Not only are they without a point to their name, but the Royals have failed to score in any three of their matches so far, conceding seven in the process.

They remain a place off the bottom of the table with a better goal difference than Birmingham City.

Everton have also had a mixed start to the season as they kicked off with two consecutive losses.

They faced back-to-back 4-0 defeats, first at the hands of Manchester City and then by current champions Chelsea the following week.

However, at the weekend they got off the mark with their first victory of the campaign.

Leonie Maier, Hanna Bennison and Rikkie Sevecke netted to help the Toffees to a 3-1 win over Birmingham City to push them up to ninth in the table.

On their last visit to the SCL, in February, Everton ensured that they walked away with a point as Nicoline Sorensen cancelled out Rachel Rowe’s opener.

Reading captain Tash Harding said: “Sunday, for us, I feel like we should have come away with a draw. Neither team really created too many chances, we created a huge opportunity in the first half and so did they.

“I think a draw would have been deserved for both teams, but we can’t switch off especially in the latter stages of a game as any team will punish you no matter who it is.

“In our next few games, it’s now about showing our character and putting pride in our performance.

“If we can come off the pitch in full knowledge that what we did out there we can be proud of, then that’s the most important thing, as well as picking up points.

“We have to bereally hard to beat, and be as clinical as we can with the chances that we create.”