Brooke Chaplen scored twice against her old club as Reading Women came from behind to beat Everton Ladies 2-1 at Adams Park.
Everton arrived to Buckinghamshire bottom of the table but they have proved difficult opponents for Reading in recent meetings, beating them twice already in 2018.
And the Toffees took the lead again just 13 minutes into the contest when Inessa Kaagman picked out Hannah Cain to finish past Grace Moloney.
Kelly Chambers’ side looked for an instant response and came close when Fara Williams’ effort rebounded off the crossbar. Everton immediately broke but this time Moloney denied Cain.
The scores were quickly levelled though when Chaplen collected the ball from Remi Allen and dinked a shot over goalkeeper Kirstie Levell.
Levell was called into action before the half was out to thwart long-range efforts from Williams and Jade Moore to ensure the scores remained locked at the interval.
Reading came flying out of the traps after the restart when Gemma Davison found Chaplen, but Levell was equal to the task.
The score remained 1-1 heading into the final 20 minutes and Moloney had to be alert to stop Chloe Kelly from putting the visitors back in front.
And that save proved crucial as Reading snatched all three points when Chaplen netted again after good work by Davison to take her goals tally to seven for the season.
“The hardest thing for us is that we dominated the first half,” said boss Chambers.
“To go 1-0 down was definitely against the run of play. We should’ve been 3-1 or 4-1 up at the break.
“It’s important that even though we didn’t have the performance in the second half, we still managed to grind out a result. What we’ve found now is a bit of consistency with what we want to do, and how we want to play.”
Reading are up to fourth in the Women’s Super League table and go to champions Chelsea on Sunday (2pm).
READING: Moloney, Harding, Pearce (c), Potter, Pacheco, Allen, Furness (Bartrip 71), Moore (Estcourt 86), Williams, Chaplen, Davison.
Subs not used: Laws, Jane, Woodham.
