Everton manager Brian Sorensen has signed a new two-year deal with the Women’s Super League club.

Sorensen and his assistant Stephen Neligan have put pens to paper on fresh terms ahead of Friday’s trip to Brighton.

Danish coach Sorensen took over the Merseyside club in 2022 and guided Everton to a sixth-placed finish in his debut season in charge, but they have experienced a difficult current campaign after being hit with a succession of injuries.

“Yeah, really happy. I really like the club and the people here,” Sorensen told a press conference.

“I think we have a good plan in place in terms of progressing the team for the next few years.

“We have a good core group and most important of all my little girl is really happy in school, so she is also happy we stay.”

Neligan has worked with Sorensen at Nordsjaelland and Fortuna Hjorring and will remain with Everton after he also agreed a contract until the summer of 2026.

Sorensen added: “Yeah, really important. I worked with him for this is the fifth year now so we know each very well.

“He is a very skilful coach and we work well together so I’m super happy he is staying also.”

Jamaica’s Khadija “Bunny” Shaw could cop March's Barclays Women's Super League Goal-of-the-Month award, as well as Manchester City Women’s Player-of-the-Month award after being shortlisted for both following her exploits throughout last month.

Shaw registered the historic achievement of being the club’s all-time leading goal-scorer when she overtook Georgia Stanway’s mark of 67. During that period, the prolific Jamaican had goals against Everton, Brighton and Hove Albion, Manchester United and Liverpool.

The towering 27-year-old striker now has 70 career goals for the north England powerhouse, which she joined three years ago, and 19 so far this season.

City’s manager Gareth Taylor in a recent interview, heaped praises on Shaw for her record-breaking feat.

“She’s a unique player, not only does she give us the goals, but she’s also a big focal point,” he said.

Shaw, City’s Player-of-the-Year for last season, faces stiff competition for the March award from midfielder Jess Park, who has also been shortlisted for the Barclays Women's Super League Goal-of-the-Month award.

Both players were nominated for finishes in the 4-1 victory at Liverpool last weekend.

Park’s goal, City’s second, came as she danced through a compact Liverpool defence and tucked calmly into the corner.

Shaw’s unstoppable strike from range came just two minutes later and had City 3-0 up in 24 minutes.

After four wins from four across the month, City are top of the table on 46 points having played a game more than defending champions Chelsea, who are on 43 points.

To win the award, Park or Shaw will have to see off six other strikes.

On the list are Hanna Bennison of Everton, Bristol City’s Megan Connolly, West Ham’s Viviane Asseyi, Lee Geum-min and Elisabeth Terland of Brighton and Chelsea’s Erin Cuthbert.

Everton and Liverpool were forced to share the spoils at Goodison Park in Sunday's Merseyside derby in the Women’s Super League with a 0-0 draw.

Liverpool dominated the early proceedings in what was a cagey affair at the home of Everton, but both sides were defensively organised leading to a lack of chances in the first half. 

As the game opened up after the break, there were more opportunities to break the deadlock, and Hanna Bennison came inches away from finding the back of the net, but her whipping effort struck the bar and came out. 

Ceri Holland had a golden opportunity for a winner in the dying seconds, but her deflected effort went just past the post and the sides ended up taking a point apiece in what was the first ever goalless women's Merseyside derby in the league.

The first half saw minimal chances for either side with a lengthy stoppage due to a Courtney Brosnan injury halting the momentum. The Everton goalkeeper went down under a challenge from Ceri Holland, but eventually got back to her feet and was able to continue. 

Nervous gasps echoed around Goodison Park in the 28th minute as Sophie Haug pounced on a mistake at the back by Everton’s defence before spotting Brosnan off her line. Her long-range effort was goalbound, but the Republic of Ireland international managed to get back in time to prevent the Reds from finding an opener.

Everton’s best chance of the first half came as Bennison picked out Emma Bissell on the left-hand side of the box, and the English wide player got it out of her feet before unleashing towards goal, but her effort slammed into the side-netting. 

After half-time, the Toffees looked to take the game to Liverpool and despite their lack of opportunities, the home side got into some advanced positions, but that final pass wasn’t quite there. 

Bennison found herself in space just outside the penalty area and looked to test Rachael Laws from range, but her ambitious curling effort cannoned off the bar and away from danger. That was the closest either side came to breaking the deadlock up to that point, and it was a superb strike from the Swedish international. 

The momentum shifted in favour of the Toffees for the final stages as they pushed to grab a winner, and Justine Vanhaevermaet stung the palms of Laws between the sticks with a thunderous striker from outside the box, but the Liverpool goalkeeper parried it away, preventing a certain goal. 

It appeared Holland would strike a hammer blow in additional time, but a couple of converging Everton defenders got back in the nick of time to deflect her shot wide and ensure the game ended goalless. 

Everton unable to do the double over rivals

The Toffees went into the game hoping to do the league double over their Merseyside rivals for the second time after the 2012 season. Brian Sorensen’s side were looking to end a disappointing run of form at home having won just one of their last eight games in the Women’s Super League on their own turf.

Everton struggled to create much of an attacking threat in the opening 45 minutes, failing to produce a shot on target, with their rivals on top before the break. 

After the interval, the Blues looked the more likely to find an opener, but a late onslaught on the Liverpool goal wasn’t enough for them to come away with the three points. 

Haug kept quiet as Liverpool struggle to create

Matt Beard’s team were looking to extend their unbeaten run of four games in the league, hoping to enhance their chances of catching third-placed Arsenal for a spot in the Champions League qualifiers.

With five goals already to her name in the Women’s Super League, all eyes were on Sophie Haug to produce the magic for Liverpool, with the Norwegian striker looking to score in three consecutive league matches for the first time in her career with the club. 

The Reds were unable to create too many clear-cut chances for Haug, and it was a relatively quiet outing for the 24-year-old by her standards.

Manchester City defeated Everton 2-1 to climb to the top of the Women’s Super League table.

City picked up where they left off in their first match since defeating Chelsea last month, with goals from Khadija Shaw (15th) and Lauren Hemp (55th) taking them three points clear of Emma Hayes’ side, who play Leicester on Sunday.

It is now 12 victories in a row in all competitions for Gareth Taylor’s City, who were pegged back by a fine strike from Hanna Bennison in the 60th minute but deserved the three points.

City, who have won all 16 of their league games against the Merseyside team, were behind Chelsea only on goals scored at the top of the table heading into the clash at the Joie Stadium. They were well fired up for this game and dominated from beginning to end against Brian Sorensen's team.

City enjoyed the majority of early possession but had a hard time getting time and space in dangerous areas. After a few tame efforts, Everton made it easy for the home team when Justine Vanhaevermaet crumbled under pressure and played a short pass inside the box that went directly to Shaw, who suddenly had an abundance of time and space to smash in the opener.

The goal gave the in-form hosts a massive boost as they looked even more dangerous from then on, with Chloe Kelly and Lauren Hemp sending dangerous balls into the box that Shaw was unable to connect with. By half-time, 1-0 seemed a low score considering City had 13 shots throughout the first 45 minutes.

Everton, meanwhile, were gifted one chance late in the half when goalkeeper Khiara Keating played the ball straight to Rikke Madsen, but her weak shot was straight back at the youngster.

After Shaw missed a great opportunity by heading over the bar, it was Hemp who doubled City's lead, combining with Coombs in the middle of the pitch before driving forward and sending a long-range effort rolling into the bottom corner.

Everton were not down and out, though, as City suddenly looked flustered at the back and gave the ball away, resulting in Hanna Bennison smashing in a beauty of a goal from outside the box. Both teams pushed on for another goal, but neither could find a way past their opponents' goalkeeper.

A Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw hat trick powered Manchester City Women to an emphatic 4-1 victory over Everton Women at Walton Hall Park on Sunday.

It was the fourth win on the trot to Manchester City who now have 22 points for second place in the Women’s Super League as it heads into the winter break. Chelsea leads the table with 25 points from their 10 games this season.

Shaw, who missed a chance to put City ahead from the penalty spot in the eighth minute made amends just a minute later. Played in by Leila Ouahabi, Shaw spotting Brosnan off her line, dinked the ball over the goalkeeper from distance.

The Jamaican forward would double the lead in the 22^nd minute when she turned away from her marker expertly before firing low into the far corner.

It didn’t take long for a third to come, three minutes, in fact following an eye of the needle pass from Hui Hasegawa found Chloe Kelly in behind, who cuts it back into the path of the onrushing Jill Roord, who buries the shot to give Manchester City a 3-0 half-time lead.

Everton pulled one back in the 56^th minute when Aurora Galli’s vicious first-time drive left goalkeeper Khiara Keating with no chance, rifling off the post and into the top corner from the edge of the box.

However, Shaw restored City’s three-goal advantage when she scored brilliant diving header that caresses the ball back across the goal and into the far corner from Alex Greenwood’s corner to secure her team’s seventh victory of the season.

Brian Sorensen was left “irritated and frustrated” after seeing his Everton side held to a 2-2 draw at home to fellow strugglers Bristol City in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

Everton twice led in difficult conditions at Walton Hall Park, but were denied a first home win of the season as Amalie Thestrup struck eight minutes from time for Lauren Smith’s side.

“It’s very frustrating,” Sorensen said. “I think both goals were avoidable. It’s just about managing it better.

“We had enough chances to score more but right now I’m just a bit irritated and frustrated with the way they got in, and that we were not clinical enough to hurt them.

“That’s my feeling. It’s the luck we have at the moment, but it’s only up to us to get out of it by continuing to work hard.”

Everton were ahead early on as Martina Piemonte netted her first goal since her summer move from AC Milan, but Amy Rodgers levelled for the visitors in first-half stoppage time.

Megan Finnigan restored the home side’s lead after the break, only for Thestrup’s late strike to thwart Sorensen’s team.

“[Piemonte] was good today,” he said. “It was good that she got her first goal and hopefully she can get cracking on.

“It’s very frustrating that we had the chances to score more, but it was also tough conditions to play the game. It became scrappy and the ref made it more scrappy with some of the decisions.

“We’re disappointed, of course. We wanted more today but couldn’t get it.”

Smith, meanwhile, was left to reflect on a show of character from her City side.

“I think it was a pretty fair result,” she said. “When you look at the first 20 minutes, they were all over us, and in the last 20 minutes we were all over them, you’d say a draw is a fair result.

“I’m pretty pleased that we’ve come from behind twice, but there’s always a bit of you that thinks that when we’ve finished that strong, we want the win.

“These are the things you can take for granted sometimes. If you don’t have a team with character and belief, and confidence as well, you can really have problems, but that has never come into this group at all. It’s not a conversation we have.

“It’s the start of the season, and we are building and learning. We are really close to getting wins. We feel like the margins are quite small right now. It’s a ruthless league, and next week we might feel completely different, but right now it does feel like small margins.”

 Reggae Girlz captain Khadijah ‘Bunny’ Shaw opened her account for Manchester City Women on Wednesday during a 2-1 victory over Everton in the opening round of the Women’s League Cup.

Shaw also had an assist as she fed teammate Jess Park, who scored the opener in the 21^st minute to see Manchester City take a 1-0 lead into the half-time break.

Shortly after the resumption, Shaw got her goal smashing in from 10 yard to give the Cityzens a 2-0 lead in the 47^th minute.

“Got the job done. On to the next,” a proud Shaw posted on Instagram afterwards.

Toni Duggan headed in in stoppage time for Everton’s consolation. The former Manchester City player was scoring her first goal since she returned from maternity leave after giving birth to a daughter in March.

Chelsea kept the pressure on Manchester United at the top of the Women’s Super League table after a thumping 7-0 win over Everton.

United had earlier moved six points clear at the summit with a 3-0 success over Tottenham, but Emma Hayes’ side reeled that lead back to four points, with two games in hand, following their demolition of the Toffees.

They took control of the game early on with goals from Guro Reiten, Sam Kerr, Pernille Harder, Sophie Ingle and Jessie Fleming putting them 5-0 up at half-time.

Everton showed some resistance after the break but Harder grabbed her second in the final 10 minutes and Erin Cuthbert finished things off in added time.

United and Chelsea will take a break from the title race as they face each other in the FA Cup final next weekend.

Marc Skinner’s side racked up a fifth successive win as first-half goals from Leah Galton and Alessia Russo and a second-half Nikita Parris strike downed Spurs.

Defeat did little to help Spurs’ relegation worries and they remain just three points above rock-bottom Reading.

Manchester City lost ground in the title race after they were beaten 2-1 at Liverpool on Sunday, which was their second defeat in four games.

Mid-table Liverpool went ahead through Natasha Dowie’s 16th-minute strike, but Lauren Hemp levelled matters 12 minutes later.

Missy Bo Kearns restored the hosts’ lead shortly after the restart and despite a strong City response, where they racked up 17 shots during the game, Liverpool held on for a surprise win.

Rachel Daly scored a hat-trick as Aston Villa sent Reading closer to relegation with 5-0 thrashing.

The England international opened the scoring in the 14th minute and then added further strikes in the 55th and 63rd to claim the match ball, with Alisha Lehmann and Kirsty Hanson also netting before the break.

Brighton beat West Ham 1-0 thanks to Kayleigh Green’s second-half goal.

Reggae Girls striker Khadija "Bunny" Shaw scored her eighth goal in seven games in the 2022-23 FA Women’s Super League to help Manchester City beat Everton 2-1 at Walton Hall Park in Liverpool on Saturday.

City took the lead in the 32^nd minute through Julie Blakstad before the hosts equalized in the 40^th minute through Rikke Sevecke.

Shaw then extended her lead atop the goal-scoring charts this season to three with a match-winning strike in the 49^th minute.

City remain fourth in the WSL table with 15 points from seven games.