Plenty of positives despite loss for Phillips

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Albion's head coach felt conceding just before the break was crucial in their 4-2 defeat to Chelsea

Richie Mills

2023-10-22T16:49:00Z

Melissa Phillips shouts instructions on the touchline during Albion's 2-2 draw against Manchester United.

Albion head coach Melissa Phillips rued her side conceding just before half time in their 4-2 loss at Chelsea in the Women’s Super League on Sunday.

Pauline Bremer scored her first goal for the club as the visitors took the lead against the run of play following a superb cross from Katie Robinson in the 10th minute.

Phillips’ team defended heroically for the vast majority of the first half, only to concede in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage time through Sjoeke Nusken.

Three unanswered goals from Nusken, an own goal from Guro Bergsvand, and Aggie Beever-Jones gave the Blues an unassailable lead, before Elisabeth Terland reduced the deficit in the 90th minute with her fourth league goal of the season.

Tatiana Pinto impressed on her first WSL start.

While there were plenty of positives, Phillips, who praised the performance of goalkeeper Sophie Baggaley, admitted Chelsea’s equaliser was hard to take.

"I am always proud [of the players]. We have not got the result we wanted but we have been organised and competitive and unfortunately and in the last game we have conceded goals at really tough times,” said Phillips.

“We were very competitive in the first half, won the ball back in good areas, asked a couple of questions and to concede a mere ten seconds before the break is really difficult going into half time.

“You know when you score quite an early goal away to Chelsea you know you are going to face a wave of attacks on our goal. We did defend very resolutely.

“Sophie [Baggaley] came up with a number of critical saves. She has been brilliant out of possession. It’s just that one moment that makes the difference in the dying seconds of that first half.”

Katie Robinson bursts forward in the first half.

Despite Chelsea having 64% possession and 30 shots to Albion’s seven, summer signing Bremer could have made it 2-0 in the first half, only for goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger to pull off a smart stop.

The second half was a different story, however, as the defending WSL champions punished Phillips’ side. While it was always going to be a big ask to beat the Blues at home, the Albion boss felt they weren’t too far away from getting something out of the contest.

“Chelsea changed their shape in the second half, it caused us some problems in central areas, which ultimately led to that second goal. We actually found some space in the second half and made adjustments, but probably had to make them a little bit quicker to get better pressure on their goal,” she added.

"Ultimately, the third and fourth goals came from errors from us and not being able to hold onto the ball. Chelsea are a good side. We knew we had to be near-perfect to come here and get any kind of result. It is not for a lack of effort or resilience. We used five subs, I felt they did a good job and continued to ask questions."

The result leaves Albion ninth in the WSL going into the international break.