Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
Chelsea Ladies fail to find winning goal
CHELSEA LADIES had to settle for a point at Liverpool with skipper Magdalena Eriksson admitting “we need to figure out a way of winning these type of games”.
The match, played on a heavy Tranmere Rovers pitch, passed a pitch inspection 45 minutes before kick-off and against the form guide it was Liverpool who took the lead.
Kirsty Linnett’s free-kick was parried by Ann-Katrin Berger, Chelsea did not deal with the rebound and Niamh Charles poked home into the corner of the net.
The Blues were back on terms soon after when Guro Reiten crossed for Bethany England to power her header past the diving Frances Kitching.
That was moments after a goalline clearance from a close-range England shot by Sophie BradleyAuckland.
England missed an arguably easier header shortly after when she nodded wide from six yards out from Maren Mjelde’s pinpoint cross.
The away side started the second half brightly in the pouring rain, Sophie Ingle’s downward header striking the post.
Free-kicks were a danger for both sides. Mjelde skimmed the crossbar with a curling right-footed effort for Chelsea and Linnett tested Berger again for Liverpool. Rinsola Babajide had a late chance for the Reds, but her near post shot was well saved by Berger.
Eriksson said: “We want to win against every team that we play and that’s our objective going into every game, so we’re obviously really disappointed with just getting out of here with one point.
“We put ourselves in a difficult position early on and then we had to fight to get the one goal, so it was a good comeback, but we couldn’t get the second one in.
“The conditions changed the game into a scrappy fight. It was really hard to play out there, but it is what it is. We knew about the conditions and we wanted to make the best of it but we couldn’t today.
“We need to figure out a way to not only beat the best teams in the league but also go away from home and win these games that are massively important. We just need to regroup, come together after the break and keep working on what we are doing. I feel that we’re heading in the right direction and this is just a set-back.”
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