After a lengthy international break the Women’s Super League has again paused, this time for a round of FA WSL Continental Cup games. For those unfamiliar with the competitions in women’s football, the Continental Cup is a League Cup-type competition for the 20 clubs that make up WSL1 and WSL2.
This competition, like the women’s leagues, has had its fair share of tinkering. It was preceded by the Women’s Premier League Cup, which now serves the 72 clubs below the top tiers, and has bounced between being an out-and-out knock-out competition and having an initial group stage.
This season the group stage returned, with teams split into four geographical groups of five and each team playing each other once before the top two progress to the quarter-finals.
The unusual format does not end there, with matches being played to a definitive conclusion and the points system unconventional. Three points are awarded for a win but then two for a win on penalties and one for a defeat on penalties.
In a way this format makes the competition exciting but it also adds a level of complexity that can alienate those new to women’s football. Keeping up with the evolution of the game is not always easy for the casual supporter.
With eight games played midweek, and eight at the weekend, there was lots to talk about as the group stage passed its midway point. In Group One North, Group Two North and Group One South the WSL1 teams have dominated. They currently fill all six last-eight spots available.
Group Two South may seemingly be bucking the trend but Chelsea are top, still unbeaten domestically this season. And while the WSL2 sides Brighton and Hove Albion and Tottenham may be level on points (as they are in the league) in second and third respectively, they are not overachieving.
They are benefiting from investment, commitment from their clubs and rapid growth, and both are performing solidly in a league they are relatively new to (Brighton were promoted at the end of the 2016 season and Tottenham at the end of the 2017 Spring Series). Meanwhile the WSL2 sides sit above two teams struggling to keep pace with the full-time clubs in WSL1. Yeovil Town (four defeats from four league games) and Bristol City (four points from four league games) both languish at the bottom of Group Two South with no points.
The changes to WSL1 and WSL2 next season — WSL1 becoming a full-time professional league and WSL2 a part-time league — will only increase the predictability of this stage of the Continental Cup as the divide between the fully professional and part-time clubs becomes more pronounced.
Despite the confusion over the identity of this tournament and questions about the future of its format, the football in the past week has been extremely entertaining.
From Mel Johnson’s hat-trick in Sheffield FC’s 5-1 demolition of Durham, an emphatic reply to their 4-0 defeat by the same side three days earlier, to the thrilling strike from kick-off by Reading’s Fara Williams to secure a win over Arsenal following Beth Mead’s equaliser, it is clear there is life in this tournament.
In Group One North Aston Villa ended their five-game losing streak with an 11-10 penalty shootout win against Sheffield, following a 2-2 draw. However, Villa, who lost 3-1 to Sunderland in midweek, lost their goalscorer Kerri Welsh, who was taken off on a stretcher in the 68th minute. The group leaders, Liverpool, were held to a goalless draw by Durham before the Reds secured two points with the Scottish forward Caroline Weir scoring the winning penalty in a 5-4 shootout triumph.
Manchester City continued their impressive form this season with wins over Oxford United and Everton to leave them sitting comfortably on top of Group Two North, with a game in hand over the teams placed second and third. The 6-0 scoreline against Oxford flatters as the first half was far from smooth sailing for City. They were kept at bay until the 45th minute when Ellis Millman brought down Nikita Parris and Izzy Christiansen converted the resulting penalty. Georgia Stanway cooly doubled City’s lead a minute later, and in the second half the rout was completed.
Everton may be struggling in the league, with only Yeovil’s inferior goal difference keeping them off the bottom, but in this competition they have held their own. After falling behind against City to a Christiansen header, Simone Magill equalised in the 76th minute, before Parris ended any hopes Everton may have had of a gutsy point with a late winner. Everton’s reverse meant last season’s runners-up Birmingham were able to leapfrog them into second place on goal difference with their 3-2 win over Doncaster Rovers Belles.
While Arsenal top Group One South, they have continued their erratic displays under the temporary charge of their assistant coach, Ismael García, following the departure of the manager, Pedro Martínez Losa, on 25 October. García picked up where Losa left off and is struggling to find a formation that gets the best out of the potentially lethal squad available. A 5-2 win against Millwall, after coming from 2-1 down, was followed by defeat by Reading at Meadow Park. That victory for Reading came after they had put four goals past Watford. The former Gunner Williams showed that even at 33 her class remains. She scored the opener before replying to Mead’s leveller by catching the Arsenal goalkeeper, Anna Moorhouse, off her line with a shot from the centre circle.
Millwall’s response to their defeat by Arsenal was followed by another high-scoring game against London Bees. This time the Lionesses came away with a 4-3 win. The Bees looked to be on top with early goals but Rianna Dean was able to claw one back before the break for the visitors. Captain Ashlee Hincks scored twice either side of a Ellie Mason goal to secure the win despite a late Bees rally.
Following a 3-0 midweek defeat of Brighton, Chelsea played Bristol City at Kingsmeadow. After Eni Aluko’s early goal, the Blues conceded their first domestic goal of the season and looked about to drop their first points when the Bristol captain, Millie Turner, leapt on the rebound from her header with five minutes of play remaining. However after being brought down in the box, Karen Carney sent the keeper the wrong way with a 90th-minute penalty to maintain Chelsea’s winning run.
Brighton recovered from their home defeat with an away win at Tottenham, who had secured a 2-1 midweek win over Yeovil. Ini Umotong , who was the WSL 2 2016 top scorer while at Oxford, scored twice as the Seagulls came from behind to win 4-1.
The Continental Cup kicks off again on 15-16 November. It will take a big upset to topple the WSL1 teams off their perches but the attempts promise to be entertaining to watch.
Talking points:
• The FA has responded to the petition and open letter initiated by Tony Farmer, a pioneer/founder of Chelsea Ladies, questioning the changes to the Women’s Super League for next season. The reply from Katie Brazier, the FA’s head of women’s leagues and competitions, has been published by She Kicks magazine online.
• Girls’ Football Week is under way with thousands of women’s and girls taking part in football related activities. Click here to find out more about events near you
• As widely reported, Uefa is keen on the idea of a men’s Global Nations League every two years in odd-numbered years. Less widely reported is the concern about the impact these possible plans would have on women’s major international tournaments. The Women’s World Cup and European Championships take place in odd years, every two years, and have clearly benefited from a clear men’s calendar in recent years. Will Uefa take that into consideration?
• It has been widely reported that Arsenal are set to appoint the Australian coach Joe Montemurro as their new manager following Losa’s exit. Montemurro led Melbourne City to the W-League title during his first season in charge and worked with the Arsenal striker Kim Little during her time at the club.
• The England and Reading midfielder Jade Moore will have surgery on her ankle after suffering a serious injury in the side’s 5-0 league win over Bristol City. The injury rules Moore out for at least four months and will mean she misses England’s World Cup qualifiers against Bosnia & Herzegovina and Kazakhstan, on 24 and 28 November respectively.
