A tough game at Solihull Moors’ Autotech Stadium saw Blues Ladies beaten 1-0 by Chelsea LFC. While the scoreline was tight there was no doubting that Chelsea had been the better side and Blues Ladies are still searching for the first win in the WSL this season.

Chelsea skipper Katie Chapman scored the game’s solitary goal early on, hooking home a volley when Blues had failed to clear a Chelsea corner that had arisen from a mistake by Blues Ladies keeper Becky Spencer.

However, the match was mostly one-way traffic with Korean international Ji So-yun, former Blue Eni Aluko and Gemma Davison continually tormenting the Blues defence and pressuring them high up the pitch.

Blues Ladies struggled to maintain possession and chances to attack Chelsea were minimal in the first half. Things improved after the break with the introduction of Karen Carney and Freda Ayisi and for a short spell Blues Ladies did look like they could maybe peg something back but they failed to test Hedvig Lindahl in the Chelsea goal with anything more than a long range effort.

In contrast, Chelsea looked dangerous with every break forwards forcing Kerys Harrop and Aoife Mannion to be on their toes when defending. The late introduction of Kirsty Linnett briefly threatened to give Blues more attacking impetus but despite going more direct in they struggled to get the ball into the box to put the Chelsea defence under pressure.

With the visit of Bristol Academy coming on Wednesday Blues Ladies manager Dave Parker will know that he has to look at the issues surrounding the team including the chronic lack of goals and see how best he can rectify them – a job not made easier by the amount of injuries Blues are still recovering from. Kirsty Linnett only just passed a fitness test to get onto the bench while it was Karen Carney’s first match this season after an injury layoff.

Both Dave Parker and Kerys Harrop, who was named player of the match by the watching Paul Robinson made reference to the struggles Blues Ladies have had this season and how they are going to have to work hard to rectify them in their post-match interview which you can listen to here.

Team:

Spencer, Sargeant, Carter, Mannion, Harrop, Allen (Linnett 76), Potter, Moore, Lawley, Stringer (Carney HT), Westwood (Ayisi HT).

Subs not used Baggaley, Windell, Haines

Tags: Freda Ayisi, Karen Carney, Kerys Harrop