Chelsea took a major step towards sealing their first Women’s Super League title and banishing the memory of last season’s final-day disappointment with a 2-1 win over Notts County, whose own slim hopes of winning the league were extinguished in defeat at Wheatsheaf Lane.
In a re-run of August’s Wembley FA Cup final Chelsea again proved the dominant side and goals from Claire Rafferty and Gilly Flaherty sealed the win which leaves Chelsea five points clear of Manchester City and Arsenal at the top of the table.
The league leaders started on the front foot and, when Hannah Blundell delivered a glorious cross midway through the first period, Rafferty was in the right place to head neatly past Carly Telford in the Notts County goal.
The contest appeared over when Flaherty fired into the roof of the net in the opening minutes of the second half, until Jess Clarke took advantage of a misplaced Chelsea pass to shoot under Hedvig Lindahl and reignite the contest. However, County could not muster another goal and stay fifth in the table.
Second-placed Manchester City beat Sunderland 1-0 later on Sunday evening with a first-half goal from Isobel Christiansen. They are five points behind with a game in hand, though it is all in Chelsea’s hands: win their last two games and they are champions.
Arsenal had put themselves in contention with a 2-0 win at Liverpool on Saturday. Natalia put a first-half penalty wide for the Gunners but Dominique Janssen made up for the miss with a superb free-kick and Jordan Nobbs passed the ball into the corner late on to seal three valuable points. The defeat confirmed that the reigning champions, Liverpool, will not retain their crown or qualify for the Champions League.
The two bottom clubs met at Stoke Gifford Stadium where Birmingham ran out comfortable 3-0 winners against Bristol Academy. Karen Carney scored two penalties and Mel Lawley added a third in front of the England manager, Mark Sampson.
Bristol now need to find six points from their remaining two games, against Manchester City and Liverpool, to have any chance of avoiding relegation to WSL2.
In the second tier the top two, Doncaster and Reading, are way out in front in the race for the two promotion places. They met on Saturday in an entertaining 2-2 draw, Bianca Bragg’s last-minute equaliser helping Reading to keep in touch with the league leaders. Doncaster remain two points clear, with four games to play.
