Chelsea faced Feyenoord for Sonia Bompastor’s first game at Kingsmeadow
as the new boss, along with 5 debutants. A dominant game from the hosts saw
seven different goal scorers for the first seven goals, before young superstar,
Aggie Beever-Jones, completed her hattrick, along with a clean sheet from the
defence.
Within the opening minutes, Chelsea proved their abilities straight away and begun
their attack early with James creating a chance before heading the ball out for a
corner. A string of corners followed but the Feyenoord defence didn’t let their guard
down and kept the score level at a goalless draw.
However, this score didn’t last long when the Blues took the lead just four minutes
into the match.
One of the West London’s summer signings, Sandy Baltimore, was the one to open the scoring. The visitors’ defence attempted to push out wide from deep in the box, but Baltimore avoided trying to be caught offside by showing off her skill. Sjoeke Nusken sent a low ball back into the box where Baltimore poked it home past the stopper who rushed off her line.
Chelsea continued to exert their power on the field where a great series of play came
from Wieke Kaptein and Lauren James on the attack and thus resulted in another
corner for the home side.
Lucy Bronze followed this up with a chance at goal but the hands of the Feyenoord
keeper, Oliwia Szymczak, sent the Lioness defender’s shot high and wide of the net.
Chelsea’s next goal came shortly after this just eight minutes in. Mayra Ramirez
doubled the lead for the hosts when the visitors’ defence managed to keep the attack
out of the box, but the versatile forward didn’t let the attempt go to waste and
grabbed the ball at the edge of the box and struck the ball into the bottom corner.
A minute later Feyenoord created their first piece of attacking play of the game, but
with the skill from the Blues’ defence, the away side were unable to put this chance
away allowing the hosts to keep their clean sheet.
As the clock showed 18 minutes, Bright formed an attempt at goal, but the ball was
headed into the hands of Feyenoord’s keeper, Szymczack, and Chelsea’s lead
remained 2 goals.
Shortly after, a foul on the away side allows Feyenoord to attempt to send the ball
forwards for them, before Chelsea continued their dominating display.
After just 20 minutes, another corner for the West London side was sent short and
was not quite successful. When the second corner came in, it was able to be cleared
before James took control of the ball to find Niamh Charles. The Chelsea defender
saw her header beat Szymczak in net, but a spectacular goal line clearance from
Amber Verspaget allowed the away side to deny Chelsea from further extending their
lead.
Things proved to become even more difficult for Feyenoord in the 27th minute when
Celainy Obispo was booked twice in a matter of seconds, with the first caution
coming from a foul on Ramirez and a second to cause the sending off due to dissent.
Tess van Bentem replaced here after a prior agreement was made, that a
substitution can occur in the event of a red card.
Chelsea took advantage of the situation and added to their scoring. The Dutch side
failed to clear the attack and Nusken gorgeously picked out the top corner from just
outside the box in the 32nd minute.
Two minutes after, Chelsea had a strong attack yet again but the defence was
focused and a goal line clearance followed a good save kept them from scoring
another.
Shortly after, Charles unfortunately had to leave the pitch with a shoulder injury and
Ashley Lawrence is the one to replace her.
In the final minutes before the break, Kaptein continued her energetic performance
by scoring her debut goal for the club at 45+2 minutes. A display of brilliant play
down the right-hand side from Bronze and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd was shown with
the second sending the ball back to Kaptein. This allowed her to net her very first
goal for the club, to seal off the scoring for the first 45, and send Chelsea into the
break with a 4-0 lead.
Both managers created changes after the half-time break, but the Blues continued
their bright display, showing that they were in control of the match.
At the 59-minute mark, Chelsea was awarded yet another corner where the skipper,
Millie Bright, took the opportunity to net the first goal of the second half, but the
hosts’ 5th of the match. Finding her position at the front post, she headed the ball
across the goal from a corner which crept through the defence and went into the net
near the far post.
Sophie Ingle was soon also forced off with injury but a triple change for Chelsea
followed the 5th goal which further boosted the energy of the winning side.
With 20 minutes remaining, a possible chance came for super-substitute, Aggie
Beever-Jones, but this was flagged offside by the match officials. Four minutes later
is when Beever-Jones has her moment to score. With her first touch, she headed in
a free kick from fellow substitute, Maika Hamano.
Just a minute later, the 7 th different goal scorer of the game, Hamano, extended the
lead even further, after assisting the previous goal. From outside of the area, she
struck a shot low and into the bottom left corner for Chelsea’s 7th of the game.
84 minutes of the game had passed when the young star doubled her goal tally in
this game. When a one-on-one with the stopper after a great run from herself, she
came out on top and hit the ball into the back of the net for the hosts’ eighth in this
match.
Within the closing minutes, the final goal of the game was scored. Beever-Jones completed her hattrick at 90+2 minutes to round off the game and an excellent preseason for Chelsea.
Chelsea XI (4-2-3-1):
Musovic (GK); Bronze, Bright (C) (Mpome 74’), Buchanan (Bjorn 63’), Charles (Lawrence 45’); Nusken, Kaptein (Ingle 46’) (Perisset 74’); Rytting Kaneryd (Hamano 63’), Baltimore (Bernabe 74’), James (Reiten 63’); Ramirez (Beever-Jones 63’)
Unused sub: Hampton
Feyenoord XI (4-4-2):
Szymczak (GK); Koga (Mulder 66’), Verspaget, Obispo (Van Bentem 30’), Brandau (Heij 46’); Van de Lavoir (Braun 66’), Waldus (c) (Lont 66’), Teulings (Baubadi 66’), De Graaf (Oudejans 66’); Conijnenberg (Balkhir 66’), Van Kerkhoven (Koopmans 46’)
Unused sub: Weimer, Eijk
Referee: Emily Heaslip
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