Manchester City WFC 1-2 Chelsea FCW, Women's Super League: Post-match reaction

03/23/2025 12:25 PM

WINNER WINNER COMEBACK DINNER

It took Chelsea 28 games to taste defeat under head coach Sonia Bompastor.

For a good while today, it looked like we might have to deal with a second defeat in just as many games, both against Manchester City.

But a wonderful second-half response saw Chelsea come back from a 1-0 halftime deficit and restore momentum and confidence ahead of Thursday's second leg in the Champions League quarterfinals.

Chelsea were lucky be behind by just the one goal at the half, with City opening the scoring through the excellent Kerolin on the half-hour mark, then hitting the woodwork, and also seeing a goal chalked off for an early whistle from the referee who didn't let the briefest of advantages play much to Jess Park's frustrations.

The Blues had plenty of possession, certainly early on in the game, but lacked tempo and creativity and posed little actual threat with it, ending the half with zero shots on target.

Bompastor must've lit a fire with the half-time talk as Chelsea came firing out of the blocks in the second half, with Johanna Rytting Kaneryd resurrecting some of her early-season form to create chance after chance after chance in a 20-minute spell that saw us equalize then waste multiple great chances to take the lead.

Aggie Beever-Jones got her 10th goal of the season by finishing off a wonderful move down the right flank, then Kaneryd turned from provider to almost-scorer, by hitting the woodwork and also forcing a most excellent save from Khiara Keating in the City goal. Wieke Kaptein had a couple great chances to score as well, but similarly failed to take advantage.

City came back into the game after weathering that storm from the Blues, and we were a bit lucky when Mary Fowler whiffed on a first-time effort in the middle of the box after a nice cutback from the right. Niamh Charles was having a bit of a torrid time all afternoon.

The win was there for the taking for either side in the final 10-15 minutes, and Kaneryd almost did so for Chelsea, but put her shot on the turn from a corner just wide of the post. And a late effort from Lauren James was well saved by Keating.

, and just when it looked like we might have to settle for the draw — after Kaneryd just put a shot wide of target and Lauren James forced a good save from the busy Keating — Erin Cuthbert arrived to finish off a very nice cross from Ashley Lawrence.

Carefree.

• Plenty of rotation from both sides for this game, with all eyes on Thursday's second leg in the Champions League
• Second-half appearances from Cuthbert, Walsh, Ramírez, Fishel, Macario
• Mia Fishel first appearance after nearly 14 months out; welcome back, Big Fish!
• Chelsea increase our lead at the top of the table to eight points over Arsenal in second, eleven points over City in third. Domination.
• KTBFFH