On the final day of the WSL season, nowhere played host to a more distinct exhibition of football’s contrasting emotions than Reading’s Select Car Leasing Stadium.
On the pitch’s right side, Emma Hayes’ reigning champions romped through another trophy-lift, the novelty of the occasion incredibly not wearing off on the club or its voracious 6,000-plus faithful - even after 13 previous iterations.
Some 20 metres to the left stood the remains of Kelly Chambers’ Reading. Most were motionless, taking in the Blues’ raucous celebrations as they attempted to reconcile their own sentencing to the Championship after their eight-year tenure in the top-flight came to a withering halt.
