Arsenal stunned, Mia’s Magic- a WSL Round up.
The Barclays WSL has been anticipated since the end of the World Cup and the opening day didn’t disappoint. With 20 goals, 2 red cards and a lot of talking points, every match was exciting from the beginning to the end. Our contributor- Emmanuel Faith brings you the summary below.
Aston Villa opened the season with their home fixture against Manchester United and the game was filled with action from the first minute as different players made attempts at both ends. The game seemed balance at half-time and the second half opened with the same tempo until the scottish winger Kirsty Hanson was shown a straight red card for a high tackle on midfielder Hayley Ladd in the 74th minute.
Despite being a player down, it was the last season’s golden boot winner, Rachel Daly that opened her account with a powerful shot drilled into the corner of the net, however the lead was short-lived as Lucia Garcia pounced on a loose ball from the corner to make it 1–1. It looked like both teams were going to share the points until Rachel Williams connected with Nikita Parris’ cross in the 92nd minute to ensure last season’s runner up took all the three points.
Two quick goals for Elisabeth Terland in the opening 13 minutes of the game , ensured Brighton & Hove Albion had the right head-start to the their WSL opener, and although Finnigan got a goal back for Everton in the second half, the visitors defended their lead to ensure they took away all the three points.
There was a lot of action in the bottom-side battle between Leicester and Bristol city-a match that produced six goals, however the biggest talking point of the day is probably Arsenal losing to Liverpool in front of a record-breaking sold out crowd at the Emirates stadium. With 54,115 fans, this match set a Barclays WSL record of the largest crowd so far and conceding to a resilient Liverpool team isn’t what Arsenal would have planned for.
The first half was action packed as both team threatened from different angles however the match was goalless at half-time after a couple missed half-chances from both Russo and Kearns . The second half started with Liverpool on the front foot and this time, the maximized their chances as Miri Taylor buried a decent cross played by Kearns in the 48th minute. The Red side of the audience roared in delight and cheered their team who defended every tricks and darts the North-London side threw at them. When the final whistle went off, the reds were satisfied as they had recorded consecutive victories on the opening days of two different seasons having beaten Chelsea by 2 goals to 1 in the opening game of last season.
Jill Roord had a warm welcome back to the WSL as the Dutch opened her account with a goal in the 55th minute to double Manchester’s city’s lead against a dogged West-ham team after Lauren Hemp opened her scoring account for the season 7 minutes earlier. Chloe Kelly missed a penalty, and Leila Ouahabi’s red card will give Gareth Taylor a couple thoughts as they prepare to host Chelsea next weekend.
The best of the action was probably saved for the last as Chelsea hosted Tottenham at Stamford Bridge. Having recorded consecutive losses in the last two opening games, Emma Hayes’ team were determined to end the voodoo that has made them winless for 4 consecutive opening games. They started on the front note as attacks came from all over the pitch, making Tottenham soak up all the pressure in the first few minutes. They however got out of their own half to win a couple corners but Chelsea’s defense was alert to their threat.
Chelsea moved the ball around the pitch seamlessly with James, Reiten, and Ingle linking up across different parts and a breakthrough finally came in the 28th minute when Mia Fishel got to the end of a pin-point cross from the English defender, Niamh Charles. Rebecca Spence made some decent saves afterwards to ensure her team were still in the game at half-time.
Chelsea picked up from where they stopped and a ball that seemed over the line wasn’t counted, however it didn’t matter as Lauren James connected with another perfectly whipped ball into the box by Niamh Charles to double Chelsea’s lead.
Martha Thomas punished a goalkeeping error from Zecira Musovic who had a made a lot of decent saves to keep the goal at 2–0, however Chelsea deployed every tactic possible to see the game off ensuring the picked up all three points on an opening day for the first time in five seasons.
Action continues next week as last season’s top-four lock horns at either sides of Manchester. Chelsea take an early trip to Manchester City while Arsenal will be looking to kick off their campaign when they visit Manchester United.
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