Chelsea edge past Man City as Beever-Jones and Hamano secure first WSL win of the season | OneFootball

Defending champions Chelsea beat Manchester City 2-1 in the opening Women’s Super League fixture at Stamford Bridge on Friday evening.Man City began the game brightly, giving Chelsea little time on the ball, but the hosts created the game’s first real chance on 11 minutes.Sandy Baltimore skipped past Kerstin Casparij before putting a cross into the six yards, but goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita gathered the ball before Aggie Beever-Jones could get her head on it.The Blues went close again when Ellie Carpenter got into the box after a counter, cut the ball back for Baltimore, whose shot was deflected.Just before the half-hour mark, goalkeeper Hannah Hampton was called into action for the first time in the fixture, coming out to prevent Khadija Shaw from getting on the end of a long ball.Sixty seconds later, Chelsea took the lead as Carpenter beat Alex Greenwood on the right wing, floated a low cross into the box, allowing Beever-Jones to tap it home.Man City almost responded with Shaw finding space in the box to aim at goal, only to be denied by Hampton’s brilliant save. The Cityzens went close again on 35 minutes, as Greenwood smashed a free-kick onto the woodwork.Three minutes after the interval, Chelsea failed to clear their lines, allowing Yui Hasegawa to hit a volley, but Hampton parried it away. Hasegawa went close again in the 53rd minute, with her attempted back heel finish drifting wide.Despite playing on the back foot after the break, Chelsea doubled their lead in the 64th minute, as Wieke Kaptein beat Greenwood and squared for Maika Hamano to score.Five minutes later, the Cityzens pulled one back through an own goal from Niamh Charles, resulting from a corner.Shaw nearly completed the comeback when she ran at the Blues centre-backs but could only lash her shot behind Hampton’s goal.The defending champions were able to see out the rest of the game with ease to secure their first win of the season.