Sam Kerr’s kick put Chelsea two points behind their rivals Manchester United The Blues regained their lead by beating Kingsmeadow 1-0 in the Women’s Super League.
This Australia International collects a great highball from Lauren James To open the score at the 23rd minute, the pursuit of the championship can be a decisive competition.
United started the afternoon one point ahead of the defending champions at the top. WSL Chelsea, however, have a game in hand.
The result also marked the end of the winning streak for the visitors, who had been the only away side of WSL until Sunday afternoon.
Kerr threatened first, testing Mary Earps with a low effort, and Mary Earps recovered properly before passing through center and was one-on-one with the United goalkeeper after a good pass from Jessie Fleming.
The Earps reacted quickly to make the second stop and was back and forth for a spell, with only Hannah Blundell activating Ann-Katrin Berger with a speculative middle easily handled by the Chelsea goalkeeper.
Kerr had James thank James for his seventh league goal in the campaign after the England attacker sent a pointer from inside his own court, which the attacking Australian had with his chest to the edge of the zone.
He drove forward and dashed from six yards away, his shot hitting the crossbar and catching the inside of the far post before it went in.
A quick response attempt from Ella Toone sailed across goal, and Alessia Russo had a sharp effort saved by Berger before the move returned to United’s half.
When Fleming’s long-range crossbow clipped the upper right corner of the crossbar, visitors were only a few inches away from falling in two, and Earps seemed to have caught him off guard as he was forced to react quickly.
United were not unlucky as he was half injured, but Millie Turner misjudged her jump to land a free kick, Russo misfired and Katie Zelem’s stop-time effort was well above the carpenter.
Leah Galton took an early corner to start the second half, and soon the Blues came back on the offensive as Kerr looked for the second with a powerful hit that bounced off a diving Earps before she went beyond the far post.
The Blues didn’t finish nearly the same after a battle in the region. This time, Fleming found James, who, instead of spoiling his shot, was hoping to add to his support and double the home’s advantage.
Turner, whose early error led to one of Kerr’s first chances, would not be caught a second time as he timing the striker perfectly to stop his menacing run in front of United goal.
Marc Skinner’s team tried to bounce back, but Berger had a good balance to collect Zelem’s free kick and was spared from falling further behind when Melanie Leupolz failed an effort.
United threatened, but by then Chelsea were in shutdown mode and they remained resolute until the final whistle.