Chelsea’s title hopes were dealt a huge blow as an Ellen White stoppage-time strike gave Birmingham City a 3-2 victory at Kingsmeadow.
As the home side looked for a late winner, Birmingham launched a lightning-quick counter-attack which was converted by the substitute who volleyed home a Charlie Wellings cross to give her side a shock victory in Marta Tejedor’s first match in charge.
The defeat leaves Chelsea six points off leaders Manchester City with just six games to play and manager Emma Hayes all but conceded here side's title hopes are now over.
“We made the mistakes in the early part of the season, so we were chasing and had to have an 100% record to have any chance, and I think the team felt the pressure of that in the game today,” said Hayes.
Not their day
Hayes claimed it just wasn’t her side’s day today, but it could all have been different had her side gone in with the lead they deserved at half-time.
They made the perfect start, Erin Cuthbert heading them in front within a quarter of an hour after fantastic work by Karen Carney on the left.
Having failed to find a second goal they were made to pay for not taking their chances as Emma Follis slid in a Lucy Quinn cross to equalise with her side’s first shot on target before the interval.
Hayes turned to attacking duo Fran Kirby and Ramona Bachmann on the bench as the Blues looked to restore their lead.
Within two minutes however her side had a mountain to climb.
Birmingham re-took the lead thanks to a swerving Quinn volley from outside the box which nestled in the top corner of Carly Telford’s net.
The visitors looked comfortable in their lead with the hosts looking short of ideas.
That was until Chelsea got a slice of luck with seven minutes remaining which shifted the momentum once again.
Cuthbert curled in a right-footed cross from a free-kick on the left, which somehow managed to elude everyone and find the net to bring the Blues back level.
With moments remaining Hayes’s side pushed up-field looking for the a crucial winner, but found themselves sucker-punched thanks to White's heartbreaker .
After a well-worked counter-attack, Wellings’s deep cross from the right was met perfectly by the instep of White, who found the roof of the net to win the game for Birmingham, leaving Hayes to insist that Chelsea’s focus is now solely on the cup competitions.
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