A sold-out crowd at Kingsmeadow was just what Chelsea needed to secure three vital points in the Barclays FA WSL title chase, said manager Emma Hayes.
Guro Reiten’s early header put the title-holders ahead in the 14th minute and proved enough to secure the win for her side, who remain within two points of league-leaders Arsenal.
And the Blues boss believed supporters were just the ticket—or, more accurately, 3321 tickets—to her squad’s success, encouraging them to turn up the volume when the table-topping WSL sides meet for a clash of the titans on Friday.
“I love them,” she said. “They’re so brilliant. I know you guys sit next to them, you know how amazing our fans are every week. Days like this when it’s packed, it’s that extra lift.
“There’s not much between the two teams, so it was that little bit extra in a game that was so tight. I hope that’s the case on Friday.”
Reiten’s header opened the scoring, the Norwegian midfielder connecting with Jess Carter’s perfectly flighted cross to put the ball out of the reach of Ellie Roebuck.
Chelsea slowed the pace of the rest of the first half but the visitors made good chances out of several Alex Greenwood free-kicks.
The first was punched to Ruby Mace, who skied her shot. The second found Jess Park, whose curling half-volley looked certain to going in at the far post before Ann-Katrin Berger’s miraculous fingertip intervention.
Sam Kerr could have given the hosts the best possible start to the second half after being played through by Pernille Harder, but her shot from the left side went across the face of goal.
With 30 seconds to play, Caroline Weir could have snatched a point for the visitors but chipped her shot just over from the edge of the box, while a late delivery into the area was caught by Berger to prevent a further chance.
As Hayes observed, the strong winds in Kingston also wreaked havoc on both sides, who battled their way through blustery conditions on Sunday afternoon.
She said: “I think it was diligent out of possession. I thought our defensive strategy was brilliant. I thought our ability in the first half to contain Man City to the spaces we wanted them to be in, we did really well. In the second half, I made a change about where I wanted them to go.
“I thought the wind was a big factor, it was the biggest factor in the second half. It was hard to get out of that wind, it made it unpredictable. I thought it was controlled, measured, calm, champion-like performance.”
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