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It was quite the afternoon for the relegation battle in the Women’s Super League.
With four of the bottom five teams in action, and two playing each other, it always looked as though it would be a crucial day in the fight for survival.
But few would have predicted the amount of leads changing hands throughout the afternoon.
And none of the teams who went ahead first finished with three points.
How did the day play out?
Reading looked to be cruising towards a win after taking a two-goal lead against Everton within 17 minutes.
That advantage would have moved them up to ninth in the table on 14 points, ahead of Brighton and Tottenham.
Spurs, meanwhile, had trailed to Aston Villa after only nine minutes and Villa were firmly in charge.
Tottenham’s afternoon deteriorated after Rachel Daly doubled Villa’s advantage – but then Eveliina Summanen pulled one back to give Spurs a glimmer of hope.
At Prenton Park, Brighton went ahead against the run of play as Elisabeth Terland scored a long-range chip when she spotted the Liverpool keeper off her line, and the Seagulls moved up to ninth on 15 points, one behind Liverpool.
And Reading’s two-goal advantage was halved in the 41st minute, with Everton scoring after a break in play halted the hosts’ momentum.
Half-time:
Liverpool 0-1 Brighton
Reading 2-1 Everton
Tottenham 1-2 Aston Villa
Fortunes then began to change as Summanen equalised two minutes after the restart and Spurs were on course to increase their points tally to 13 in the “as it stands” table.
Spurs’ position improved after Ceri Holland levelled for Liverpool against Brighton, moving Tottenham up to 10th, while Brighton had dropped down to 11th.
And just when things looked like they could not get any better for Tottenham, they did as Bethany England scored and they moved up to 15 points, leading fifth-placed Villa 3-2.
Reading were the only side still managing to cling onto their lead – but that would not last long as an Everton penalty made it 2-2 and the Royals dropped back down to second bottom.
Brighton and Reading were still holding on to hopes of a point on a testing weekend.
The Seagulls were the first to capitulate as Holland doubled her tally in the 70th minute and Brighton briefly dropped to 11th.
They would move up a place 13 minutes later when Nicoline Sorensen fired an unstoppable effort past Grace Moloney and Reading went 3-2 down.
Tottenham were jubilant and looked like they could pick up their fifth win of the season, but it was not to be.
Aston Villa’s Rachel Daly – the second highest scorer in the league this season – scored number 15 of her campaign.
Tottenham’s tally dropped to 13 points, but they held on to their league position. For Brighton, what could have become one point between them and Liverpool ended up as a difference of seven points.
Full-time reports:
What is still to come in the relegation battle?
There are five weekends of WSL action left and the league is poised for one of the tightest relegation battles.
Even after Sunday’s games, the situation at the bottom of the table is not much clearer, although Liverpool look to have pulled themselves clear.
The quest to stave off the threat of the drop still has many more twists and turns to come.
On Saturday, Tottenham play Brighton and Leicester play Liverpool.
Later in the campaign, Tottenham host Reading on 21 May.
Then, on the final day of the season on 27 May, Brighton take on Leicester.
