Bristol City were unable to match Charlton Athletics’ intensity as the Addicks run out 2-0 winners at the Robins High Performance Centre thanks to goals from Lois Heuchan and Anna Filbey.
In front of 965 fans, the Robins had an uncharacteristically slow start and were punished by Heuchan, the 25-year-old opened the scoring with an excellent right footed strike.
Fibley made ensured that all three points would be heading back to The Oakwood as her second half goal appeared to end any hopes of a City comeback.
The result sees Lauren Smith’s side drop one place to fifth in the Championship and 12 points off of leaders Liverpool while Charlton climb to third.
City had the first chance of the match as Ffion Morgan’s cross was met by Chloe Bull, but her volleyed effort was mistimed and drifted wide of the post.
Heuchan had the opportunity to put the visitors as she volleyed wide of Fran Bentley’s far-post with a left-footed shot.
But Heuchan did ultimately break the deadlock half-way through the first half, finding space inside the box before curling her effort excellently into the top-right corner on the half-volley.
Minutes later Bull once again found herself in front of goal, this time thanks to an Aggie Beever-Jones’ cross, but her volleyed effort didn’t trouble Eartha Cummings in the Charlton net as the Vixens’ frustration continued for the entire first half.
Early in the second half Fran Bentley was called into action as Beth Roe struck well from distance to force the Manchester United loanee into an impressive diving save to keep the score at 1-0.
The visitors thought that they’d doubled their lead, only to see the offside flag raised after Mia Ross tapped-in a goal bound effort from Anna Filbey from incredibly close-range.
City appeared to be growing into the second-half, until Hughes hammered in Charlton’s second after Roche’s corner ricocheted into her path and the striker made no mistake to give the Addicks all three points.
Talking points
High-pressing Charlton cause problems
In the reverse fixture, a 2-1 defeat in London, Smith’s side struggled against the energetic and high-pressing style of play from the Addicks and the same was displayed today.
The usually controlled and measured distribution shown by Satara Murray, Brooke Aspin and Palmer was rushed by constant pressure from the visitors and lead to City losing possession on several occasions.
Throughout the first half there was an over-reliance on long balls with Harrison being repeatedly by-passed with Cummings able to easily collect without much of a contest.
Brooke Aspin is hard as nails
Big tackles, big headers, and sore nose. It’s easy to forget when watching Brooke Aspin defend that she is only 16 years old such is the assured nature of her play.
Although hurried by the constant Charlton pressure the defender stood out winning a number of 50-50s as well as jumping into some huge tackles in what was a commanding display.
After a heavy clash of heads in the first half it looked as though Aspin may not be able to carry on, but after some lengthy treatment the defender returned to the field with the exact same level of commitment.
Supporters will be holding their breath that the injury that saw her substituted won’t rule her out for too long.
Tired legs taking effect
A busy week for City women has ended without a win, but the Robins impressed against Manchester City in the Continental Cup as they went toe-to-toe with some of the world’s best.
But it looked as if that game may have taken its toll on Sunday, with a number of players not quite being able to match the impressive intensity shown by the visitors.
There were sloppy passes and a number of heavy touches that could well be a result of the intensity of the game midweek, but with a week before Smith’s side are next in action they will hope to be fresher when they take on Southampton at St Mary’s.
Another huge crowd as City support #HerGameToo
After a bumper crowd at Ashton Gate yesterday to see the Robins beat Cardiff City, that was well and truly followed up today as a HPC record 956 travelled to High Performance Centre.
In a week where Bristol City have partnered with Her Game Too - as they combat sexism in football - it was great to see a huge number of supporters men, women and children support City and hopefully the impressive level of support will be continued throughout the season.
