Manchester City break clear of Chelsea in WSL after Bronze’s freak own goal
An own goal by defender Lucy Bronze against Everton cost Chelsea top spot in the Women’s Super League as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home, allowing Manchester City to leapfrog them with a 5-0 drubbing of West Ham.
Bronze headed the ball back across the goal to tee up Sandy Baltimore to score from close range in the 28th minute, but five minutes later her attempted clearance rolled into her own net to put Everton level. The visitors held on for a draw as Chelsea dropped points for the first time since the opening day of the season.
Manchester City made the most of that slip-up as Bunny Shaw’s superb goalscoring form continued, the Jamaican striker netting a hat-trick as her side cantered to a comprehensive win against West Ham, with Aoba Fujino and Iman Beney also on target.
The WSL’s top scorer gave City the lead six minutes before the break. City then ran riot after the interval as Shaw grabbed another couple for the match ball while Beney and Fujino scored their first goals of the campaign.
West Ham were happy to sit in and soak up the pressure from their opponents, and Constance Picaud-Inconnu was relieved when she parried Kerstin Casparij’s effort straight back into danger but no one was on hand to tap home. The visitors had the woodwork to thank for not going a goal down when Fujino’s effort hit a post.
It seemed only a matter of time before City made the breakthrough and they did just that five minutes before the break. Hemp stole possession as West Ham tried to play out from the back and the ball was worked to Shaw to finish expertly.
City doubled their advantage eight minutes after the break as Shaw directed Hemp’s cross past Picaud-Inconnu. Fujino hit the crossbar but was not to be denied minutes later to make it 3-0.
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Beney added a fourth five minutes after coming on with a deflected strike from the edge of the box. Shaw completed her hat-trick with 16 minutes to play when she latched on to a through ball from Grace Clinton before grabbing her 12th goal from nine WSL games.
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