Sandberg’s superb strike denies Chelsea as Manchester United hold WSL leaders | OneFootball

Chelsea and Manchester United both maintained their unbeaten starts to the Women’s Super League season, although the defending champions’ 100% winning record was brought to an end by an entertaining contest between the top two.

The result extended United’s agonisingly long wait for a first WSL victory over Chelsea but they will have taken great encouragement from their performance, on a night when both teams created plenty of chances to win and the home side showed they may well have the qualities to mount a serious title challenge.

For a game played between the teams with the two best defensive records in the WSL last term, and which had conceded the fewest goals so far this season before kick-off, the game began in a surprisingly open fashion as both attacked early on. The contest opened at such a fast pace that it could easily have been 2-2 inside the first six minutes, with Hannah Hampton saving with her feet from Elisabeth Terland, Catarina Macario’s effort being blocked by Maya Le Tissier, Jess Park firing narrowly over the crossbar and then Aggie Beever‑Jones following suit when she looked certain to score.

Chelsea did then provide the goal the early flurry of attacks had threatened, as Wieke Kaptein met Macario’s clever back-heeled pass and slotted in a neat, clinical finish low into the corner, as the hosts conceded a league goal for only the second time this season.

Manchester United had lost 10 of their previous 11 WSL meetings with Chelsea, but this confident version of Marc Skinner’s team were unwilling to roll over. Inspired by the dribbling of Park, who seemed determined to skip her way past as many defenders as possible and was the driving force of her team’s adventurous play, they continued to create chances and they were soon level when Anna Sandberg scored her first goal for the club. She could hardly have caught her strike any sweeter, angling her foot perfectly over the ball to arrow a half-volley powerfully past Hampton from just outside the area.

The game was played amid Storm Amy, which brought swirling rain and gusts of wind, and started with a minute’s silence following the terrorist attack on a synagogue in Manchester on Thursday, with the home side also wearing black armbands as a mark of respect.

Additionally, both sets of teams joined together in a circle pre-match against racism at the start of Black History Month, in a week when the Peterborough player Kira Rai suffered racist abuse. The England and Tottenham forward Jessica Naz was the victim of racism online nine days previously.

This was the ground where Chelsea clinched last season’s title, with a 1-0 victory in a game that had been fairly even. This looks like a much-improved United team since then, though, and they continued to threaten in the second half, with Fridolina Rolfö’s deflected effort looping on to the top of the bar before Park’s swerving effort flew narrowly over. Melvine Malard, on as a substitute, dragged a low shot wide with 21 minutes remaining.

Skinner had said on Wednesday that he wanted his team to be brave and “show Chelsea that you can beat them”, and they certainly seemed to respond to his rallying cry as they continued to play with intensity and attacking intent, while Chelsea remained dangerous at the other end too, with Beever-Jones going close.

Such was the extent of the test Chelsea were being presented with, there was even a rare moment of frustration from Sonia Bompastor, with the Chelsea coach shown a yellow card in the second half after she bemoaned a free-kick decision against her team.

Chelsea’s Sjoeke Nüsken bent an effort just wide of a post as the visitors began to search for a late winner, and Alyssa Thompson was almost able to race through on to a loose ball inside the penalty area but she was tackled by the quick-thinking United goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce, who also dived low to her left to keep out a Keira Walsh shot moments later.

Guro Reiten had a shot blocked in stoppage time, as late Chelsea pressure grew, but in the end a draw was a relatively fair result and sets the weekend’s action up nicely before the other two title contenders, Manchester City and Arsenal, go head-to-head on Saturday. They will be hungry to capitalise on Chelsea and United sharing a point, with City able to close to within a point of the leaders if they win.

Header image: [Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action Images/Reuters]