Chelsea came back from a goal down to beat Manchester City at the Etihad, leaving them eight points clear at the top of the Barclays Women’s Super League.
City’s Kerolin opened the scoring just after the half-hour mark, rolling it into the bottom corner after a solo run on the right wing past Millie Bright – her first league goal. A potential second from Jess Park was ruled out in a controversial refereeing moment before halftime.
Aggie Beever-Jones equalized just minutes after the restart, and Chelsea went on to dominate until Erin Cuthbert eventually headed home in the dying moments, seeing Chelsea’s unbeaten league campaign continue.
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After Chelsea came out on top in the Subway Women’s League Cup final last weekend, City got their revenge with a 2-0 victory in the UEFA Women’s Champions League midweek – ending Sonia Bompastor’s unbeaten start at the club.
This WSL encounter, the third of four consecutive meetings between City and Chelsea, saw the hosts dominate the first half. Kerolin opened the scoring in the 32nd minute, after an excellent solo run past Millie Bright gave her space to roll the ball into the bottom corner.
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In the 40th minute, the Brazilian was brought down by Bright on the edge of the box – Jess Park swept in the loose ball a second later, but to City’s frustration referee Kirsty Dowle blew the whistle while the ball was in the air. Her decision not to play advantage meant Park’s strike did not count, and Yui Hasegawa hit the crossbar with the resulting freekick.
Despite City’s dominance, their lead remained slender at the start of the second half – and Chelsea soon recovered. Lauren James tested Khiara Keating from distance, but it was Aggie Beever-Jones who equalized in the 49th minute.
After that, the Blues took over the game, with Johanna Rytting Kaneryd causing all sorts of problems down the wing. Despite their zero shots on target in the first half, Chelsea had eight in the second half. It looked as though City would still hang onto a precious point, not least thanks to some excellent work by keeper Khiara Keating, until substitute Erin Cuthbert sealed the win in extra time, with a header off Ashley Lawrence’s cross.
Chelsea will host Manchester City for the last of their four consecutive meetings with the second leg of their UEFA Women’s Champions League quarterfinal taking place at Stamford Bridge on Thursday at 20:00 [GMT]. City currently lead 2-0.
CITY: Keating; Casparij, Prior, Aleixandri, Layzell; Hasegawa, Roord; Coombs, Kerolin, Park; Miedema
CFC: Hampton; Lawrence, Bright, Bronze, Charles; Jean-Francois, Kaptein; James, Hamano, Kaneryd; Beever-Jones