Womens Super LeagueSee standings
Manchester City suffered their first defeat in 17 games in all competitions as Chelsea go a point clear at the top of the Barclays Women’s Super League thanks to a Sandy Baltimore goal deep into first half stoppage time. Ayata Yamashita was sent off for City with fifteen minutes to go as she came out and fouledAlyssa Paola Thompson
Story of the match
It was the visitors that started off the strongest and in the 4th minute, Lauren Hemp played in Bunny Shaw down the right hand channel who showed some great strength in driving into the box and putting the ball on a plate for Aoba Fujino whose effort was lashed wide.
Moments later, Shaw was found with a superb pass to breach the defence once again only this time down the right channel. Shaw then put in a dangerous ball, which Katie McCabe cleared behind for a corner that resulted in nothing for City.
Chelsea had their first shot on target shortly after, when Melvine Malard stood Iman Beney up and cut inside the box, but following a wicked deflection off Jade Rose, Yamashita adjusted her body well and made the save down to her right.
In the 20th minute, the hosts almost took the lead when McCabe played a delightful ball over the top to Thompson on the left wing who drove and put a deadly ball across the penalty box. The ball fell to Ellie Carpenter at the back stick who was looking for Malard, but City’s captain for the afternoon, Rebecca Knaak read the danger and cleared the ball off the line.
Minutes later, Mary Fowler played the ball in field to Shaw, who teed up Carlotta Wamser who fired just over the bar from the edge of the D.
Wieke Kaptein’s corner shortly after, almost caught out everybody inside the penalty area as the corner hit the underside of the bar and was put behind for another corner on the opposite side.
Five minutes before the break Chelsea beat the Manchester City press and hit them on the counter after a great ball down the left channel by McCabe to Kaptein who played a ball to the near post which was begging to be turned home, but substitute Aggie Beaver-Jones who came on for the injured Melard lashed her effort wide of the post.
Deep into first half stoppage time Chelsea took the lead after some neat play by the hosts between the lines down the right hand side as they worked the ball into the box, where Sandy Baltimore unleashed an unstoppable effort into the top corner of the net that left Yamashita with no chance.
Into the second half and it was City who had the first chance after Sam Coffey was fouled to the right of the area. Coffey took the resulting free-kick and played a ball that just glanced on top of Shaw’s head and went over the cross bar.
Ten minutes later, the visitors had another chance to equalise when Shaw took the ball at the edge of the box with her back to goal and played in Fujino who made an excellent darting run into the box, however her effort fell straight into the arms of Hannah Hampton
Moments later, Chelsea threatened City’s goal after substitute Veerle Buurman headed the ball across goal for , but it was dealt with unconvincingly by Shaw and Yamashita.
Just after the hour mark, Shaw saw herself through behind the right channel where Hemp was arriving at the back stick, but the defender put her off and the ball went behind for a Chelsea goal kick.
Minutes after, substitute Vivianne Miedema, who made a comeback after recovering from a knee injury, played a great ball through to Shaw who cut inside on her right foot, but her shot was blocked by Buurman.
Hemp who became City’s all time WSL appearance record holder with 139 appearances today surpassing City legend Steph Houghton looked like she wanted to take the responsibility as she drove down the left hand and unleashed an effort that went over the far crossbar.
With fifteen minutes to go, the game's decisive moment as Yamashita had a rush of blood to the head after she came out and took out Thompson who would’ve had the goal at her mercy and the referee pulled out the red card leaving City down to ten in the final stages.
From the resulting free-kick, Beever-Jones' effort hit the crossbar and had substitute Eartha Cumings beaten all ends up and then with five minutes to go, Beever-Jones looked again to double the hosts’ lead however, her drilled effort after cutting inside whistled past the right-hand post.
As the game reached the 90th minute mark, Beney had a chance that she just managed to graze the top of the crossbar after some great hold up play and pass through by another City substitution in Beth Mead.
With two minutes of stoppage time remaining, Beever-Jones forced Cumings to make a save after being teed up inside the area by Buurman.
What comes next
Both teams are in UEFA Women’s Champions League action with Chelsea hosting PSG at 8pm on Wednesday night at the AFC Wimbledon Stadium. Elsewhere on Wednesday, Manchester City face a trip to Sweden to take on Häcken with kick-off at 5:45pm.
