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Chelsea Ladies 2 Liverpool Ladies 1

Early goals in each half earn Chelsea victory. By Ashley Houghton

LIVEROOL Ladies were once again unlucky on their travels as an early goal in each half gave Chelsea all three points in the FAWSL Continental Cup Group B clash.

Emily Gielnek scored her first Liverpool Ladies FC goal in reply but it wasn’t enough for the Reds who went down 2-1 to make it two defeats out of two in the Cup competition.

Robbie Johnson’s side was unchanged from the side that narrowly lost to Arsenal last weekend and they got off to the worst possible start  by going behind after just 33 seconds, Sue Lappin fed through Helen Lander and the Chelsea striker made no mistake in slotting past Nicky Davies in the Liverpool goal.

That lead could have been doubled on five minutes as a long clearance from Lara Fay was latched on to by Chelsea skipper Dunia Susi but the winger prodded wide from ten yards.

Liverpool, to their credit, improved as the half went on and they had their best chance on the quarter hour as Gielnik was afforded time and space by Hannah Keryakoplis’ knock down but the Australian U20 International volleyed over from eight yards.

Chelsea always looked threatening on the break and when Lander was fed through by Sophie Gwilliam she looked certain to score but a fantastic save from Davies kept the visitors in the game.

The Reds nearly got a fortuitous equaliser on the stroke of half-time as Chelsea centre-half, Gemma Bonner miscued her clearance onto her own crossbar but much to her relief the ball bounced over for a corner.

HALF TIME CHELSEA 1 – 0 LIVERPOOL           

Chelsea, like in the first-half, started much the brighter as Susi smashed a right footed strike against the bar from Drew Spence’s long ball.

It wasn’t long though before the lead was doubled as Susi latched onto Ingle’s long ball this time and smashed past Davies for 2-0.

Liverpool’s reply came just after the hour mark as substitute Chloe Jones fed through Gielnik who was calm and composed to slot past Sarah Quantrill and give the visitors hope.

That goal gave Liverpool a lift and they started to build real momentum with Keryakoplis doing brilliantly in the area and bending a right foot shot just wide.

Jones then went close herself as she volleyed over from the edge of the area and good work from Michelle Evans, but as chances went by the visitors could sense there luck wasn’t in.

That was confirmed when more good work from Evans led to Katie Brusell being presented with a wonderful opportunity but she couldn’t adjust her body to nod home inside the six yard area.