Chelsea began the defence of their Barclays Women’s Super League title with a narrow win over Aston Villa.
Missy-Bo Kearns could have given Villa the lead but the Blues scored the first goal of the WSL season 36 minutes in, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd stepping inside to fire into the corner of Sabrina D’Angelo’s net from the edge of the box.
Hannah Hampton had to drop on a close-range lucy Parker effort very early in the second half and Rachel Daly’s header from just inside the Chelsea box landed on the top of the crossbar.
Millie Bright got her head on a goal-bound Paula Tomás strike as the visitors pushed for an equaliser, D’Angelo then had to make a sharp stop to keep out a deflected cross.
There were some nervy moments for Sonia Bompastor’s side in the closing stages, Hampton kept out a stoppage-time header from Daly and also turned another from opposite number D’Angelo – up for a corner – onto the bar and over.
