With 35 minutes on the clock at Prenton Park, Sophie Roman Haug stood inside the 18-yard box wearing a look of utter disbelief.
The Liverpool striker had just seen her looping header improbably clawed away from the goal-mouth by Leicester City shot-stopper Janina Leitzig. It was a stunning save, but one that also seemed reflective of Haug’s somewhat disjointed start to life on Merseyside.
The 24-year-old arrived from AS Roma in the summer window for a club-record fee and was tasked with filling the sizable void left by the departing Katie Stengel. Any hope of making an instant impact at her new club was cruelly extinguished when she suffered fractures to the nose and face while away on international duty with Norway on the eve of the Women’s Super League (WSL) season.
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The injury saw Haug miss Liverpool’s improbable opening day victory over Arsenal and she remained sidelined for the impressive dispatch of Aston Villa that followed a week later. The Norwegian was deemed fit to play 60 minutes of Liverpool’s insipid Merseyside derby defeat to Everton but, encumbered by a protective mask and starved of any real service into the box, her debut proved something of a damp squib.
Manager Matt Beard was, however, quick to quash any criticism of his new striker, backing her to deliver once she had been allowed time to really bed in with her new teammates. “We’ve seen enough from what we’ve seen of her playing for Roma, LSK Kvinner and Norway, and what we saw in those first few weeks when she came in to us, to know she will be absolutely fine and she will score lots of goals for this football club,” the Liverpool boss said.
Still, strikers are inevitably judged on their ability to put the ball into the back of the net and, after failing to hit the target in Reds’ 1-1 draw with West Ham, Haug’s desperation to get off the mark on Merseyside was palpable in Sunday’s clash with Leicester City.
That first-half header was one of a handful of good chances that fell to the 24-year-old at Prenton Park and - while a combination of brilliant goalkeeping and lacklustre finishing denied her from registering her first Liverpool goal - there were plenty of positives to take from Haug’s showing against the Foxes.
“I don't think any other keeper in the league saves that to be honest,” Beard said, reflecting on Leitzig’s remarkable 35th-minute save. “I see Sophie do that every day in training and I thought it was in. I said 'Yes!' before she saved it.”
While Haug will be frustrated to see her mini goal drought go on, Liverpool can take heart from the fact their new no.10 was central to most of their positive play on Sunday afternoon, though it was Melissa Lawley and Marie Hobinger whose goals ultimately secured the three points for Beard’s side.
Haug is, as cliched as it sounds, getting into the right positions for the Reds. Last weekend marked her first outing without a protective mask and, with the games coming thick and fast for Liverpool in the weeks ahead, you sense the striker’s first goal for the club could be just around the corner.
