by From a small pocket of traveling fans in the corner of Kingsmeadow came a cascade of roars and screams, the sound of a title race coming to life. For Manchester City, matching statement result with statement performance. The Kingsmeadow Queen has been dethroned, Chelsea beaten at home in the Women’s Super League for the first time in more than three years, their lead cut down to nothing: zero points, zero goal difference.
Khadija Shaw got the only goal of the game, her first goal against Chelsea in the league in five attempts, but in reality this was a story of resolve and defensive backbone against unimaginable pressure. Not just the increasingly desperate waves of Chelsea’s attack but the burden of history, the weight of it all.
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And it meant the world: you could see, as the humble City players celebrated with their fans at the end, still too pumped with adrenaline to feel the tired legs and young bruises from a brutal night’s work.
Most impressive of all was how they protected the legacy Shaw had given them early on. City’s five goals were impressive: Laia Aleixandri regal in the duel, Alex Greenwood holding her own against the threat of British signing Mayra Ramírez, even if she was lucky not to be penalized in the first half. Best of all, perhaps, was teenage goalkeeper Khiara Keating: surfing a wave of good form, a ball of skittish energy, making double saves in injury time.
You could go through the backs of the team: Yui Hasegawa at the bottom of the midfield, Jess Park between the lines, the way Shaw was as central in defense as she was earlier in attack. And if the denouement felt a little sketchy and chaotic, to a degree City deserved their little strokes of luck. For all the pressure they would provide in the final minutes, you’d still be hard-pressed to find more than one or two chances that Chelsea created each game.
Ramírez was a nuisance before the start and in the channels, but Fran Kirby was in a slightly wider, quiet and uncharacteristic role as was Lauren James.
A week of feverish speculation has ended in the worst possible way, and for all the talk of who will succeed her, Emma Hayes will know to focus on the present, on the fine edges of will determine the fate of this title. .
Like the one that turned this game in the end. And fittingly, it was a turning point: 13 minutes had passed when Erin Cuthbert tried to clear the ball in her own half, not noticing that Park was closing in on her at speed. Park stole the ball, her pass to Shaw was perfectly weighted, and the finish was pure silk: outside leg, she lifted carefully over the onrushing Hannah Hampton, the hand cupped to the ear in celebration before the ball hit even the number.
City could have finished the game in those first 20 minutes. Shaw had another good chance a few minutes later, and another shortly after that when she fired straight to Hampton. But as the half progressed Chelsea began to assert themselves, James picking up the ball in more threatening positions, the midfield slowly learning Ramírez’s manner and movements.
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They probably should have had a penalty on the half hour when Ramírez burned Greenwood around the outside for pace and then fumbled the ball. Greenwood came in a fraction of a second later with a sliding tackle that got a nil ball and part of the leg that had nothing to do with it. The referee, Abigail Byrne, was unmoved, and in an age where almost all official controversies are biased or cheated, this was perhaps a decision that could safely be filed away as an honest error. Although, a pretty bad one.
City threatened from time to time in the second half. Chelsea’s injury-time equalizer against them in October was perhaps a grim reminder of the dangers of overcaution. But it was Chelsea who made the most of the chances: Cuthbert going close on 78 minutes, Keating saving from Jelena Cankovic in the 95th, and then Sjoeke Nüsken’s superb header.
A strange and unfamiliar sensation gripped Kingsmeadow at full time. City have gone a bit under the radar this season, but there will be no hiding places now. There are eight games left: Chelsea have slightly tougher fixtures, and a trip to Manchester United on the final day of the season, along with Champions League demands. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Chelsea will have to muster every last drop of their wits to give Hayes the result she deserves.
