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Powell proud of Albion response

Head coach reflects on 3-1 defeat to Chelsea in the WSL

By Bruce Talbot • 02 October 2021

By Kyle Hemsley
Hope Powell's side have won two and lost two of their opening four matches of the WSL campaign.

Hope Powell says she was proud of Albion's second-half response in the 3-1 defeat to champions Chelsea in Saturday's Barclays Women's Super League game.

Albion trailed 2-0 at the break but Danielle Carter scored for the second time this season to pull one back before Beth England made the game safe for Chelsea, for whom Guro Reiten and Sam Kerr scored in the first half.

"From where we were at half-time I was really proud of how we responded in the second half," said Powell. 

"Chelsea have such a strong squad with world-class players and in the first half we found it tough. But the players knew at half-time they they could do so much better, they were quite angry with how they'd played.

"Danielle got a really good goal and for the next 20 minutes or so we had a go, we were really in the game. I think it takes a lot of courage by the players to respond like they did, but Chelsea were able to bring on very experienced players from the bench and got the third goal."

Powell employed Maya Le Tissier in central midfield in the first half. "I thought she did okay," said Powell. "It is another good learning experience for a young player. Overall, though, there are a lot of positives for us to take into the next game against Spurs."