Much of the attention pre-match was on Chelsea Women’s new signing Sam Kerr. The Australian international is one of the stars of the world game and is probably the biggest star to sign into the FAWSL in its relatively short history.
Despite Kerr’s debut it was Reading Women’s own superstar Fara Williams who opened the deadlock with a trademark shot after a well worked move from the edge of Chelsea’s box.
Unfortunately for Reading only a few minutes later goalkeeper Grace Moloney was shown a red card for a challenge on Australian international Kerr which meant an appearance for Rachael Laws off the substitutes bench.
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Reading Women have shown great resilience this season and even won a game with one player short when 2-0 down against West Ham United, however Chelsea Women are a different proposition from their London counterparts.
The home side were level when Beth England equalised, ably assisted by the aforementioned Kerr a few minutes before half-time.
Chelsea Women continued to enjoy the majority of the possession in the second half and in the 64th minute Norweigian international Guro Reiten put them ahead.
There was a welcome return for Reading’s Welsh international forward Natasha Harding for the away side, who came on for Fara Williams as they attempted to salvage something from the game.
However, it wasn’t long before Erin Cuthbert had scored Chelsea’s third and sealed the points for the London side who now sit in 3rd place in the Women’s Super League.
Reading Women lie in a creditable 6th out of 12th in the Women’s Super League and will find out at 5pm tomorrow who they will face in the last 32 of the Women’s FA Cup.
