Liverpool Women suffered their third defeat in three games after Sheffield United scored twice in the last five minutes to claim a 3-2 victory in the Continental League Cup.
The Reds led twice but were pegged back by two stunning goals from a Blades side who play their league football in the division below.
Vicky Jepson made four changes to the team that lost 1-0 to Spurs last week with Jemma Purfield, Rinsola Babajide, Ashley Hodson and Rhiannon Roberts making their first starts of the season.
Babajide had a good opportunity to give the Reds an early lead when she was put through by Purfield but the winger could only fire a shot straight at Blades goalkeeper Becky Flaherty.
Liverpool enjoyed more of the possession in the opening stages but looked vulnerable to Sheffield's counter attacks. Katie Wilkinson's long-range effort flew just wide and the away side seemed keen to shoot from distance.
The Reds broke the deadlock in the 28th minute when Melissa Lawley's blocked shot fell to Hodson to pounce and finish past Flaherty.
Babajide could have doubled Liverpool's lead just before half-time after a good team move saw her played through on goal but Flaherty produced a great save to keep the score at 1-0.
The Blades probably felt they deserved to be level at the break and they started the second half well, forcing the Reds' Leighanne Robe into a vital block in the penalty area.
The away side got their equaliser in the 54th minute when Sophie Barker's corner was met by the head of Wilkinson whose effort hit the bar and was adjudged to have bounced over the line by the linesman.
Referee Kristian Silcock had been unsure and originally waved play to continue until his assistant made the late call.
Jepson made her first change of the afternoon when Niamh Charles replaced Jess Clarke and the substitute had an instant impact when she put the Reds back in front within two minutes of coming on.
Purfield won the ball back on the left before firing in a perfect cross for the forward to head home from close range.
The Blades still looked dangerous on the break and continued to cause Liverpool problems but looked to be running out of time to find an equaliser.
However, in the 87th minute Maddy Cusack was allowed space to shoot and the midfielder produced a stunning strike which sailed over Anke Preuss into the top corner to bring the visitors level.
It got worse for Jepson's side when they were reduced to ten players for the second week running after Jade Bailey was given a second yellow card for a pull-back in the 90th minute.
With the scores level it looked like the teams were heading for a penalty shoot-out to decide who would receive an extra bonus point in the group but with only seconds remaining Jade Pennock won it for the Blades with a superb lob over Preuss.
The Reds have four group games left to play in the competition and can still progress to the knockout stages but yesterday's result leaves them with work to do.
First goalscorer Hodson said the team must stick together and work out what is going wrong ahead of a big league game against Manchester United next week.
"We need to put it right now because we’re three games in and we need to start getting the results," said the striker. "We’ve got to go into next week and look at the things we’ve done wrong and put them right because we’ve got a tough opposition next week and we need to step up now."
"We've had a couple of results we didn't want and obviously this is another one. We hoped that we could defend but obviously they’ve gone and put two in at the end and we’re all gutted.
"We never looked at this group and underestimated the teams. All of our competitors from this group are in the Championship but we know that when they come to play us they want to play against this badge and want to get a result and that’s what Sheffield have done."
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Manchester United have also lost their opening games meaning both teams will be desperate for a result next week.
"They'll definitely be up for the fight," said Hodson. "We've watched their first two games and they've played well but we need to go in there believing we can win and be ready to put up a fight."
Elsewhere, Everton suffered their first defeat of the season with a 1-0 loss at Birmingham.
The Toffees had beaten the hosts by the same scoreline in the league two weeks earlier but Rachel Williams's header in the 73rd minute was enough to win it for the home team.
Willie Kirk's side now face a top-of-the-table clash against Manchester City next Sunday.
