LEICESTER, England (Reuters) – Chelsea’s winning start to the Women’s Super League (WSL) season came to a shuddering halt on Saturday when lowly Leicester City held them to a 1-1 draw at the King Power stadium, ending a run of nine straight league victories for Sonia Bompastor’s side.
Chelsea remain top with 28 points after 10 games, six ahead of Manchester City who can close the gap to three points if they beat Everton on Sunday. Leicester are 10th in the 12-team league on six points.
Coming into the game on the back of four straight WSL defeats, there was little to suggest the Foxes would be the first team to take points off the reigning champions this season, but an early goal and some inspired goalkeeping gave them a valuable point.
Guro Reiten rattled the crossbar for Chelsea before Missy Goodwin, who came on for the injured Deanne Rose in the 11th minute, popped up at the far post to open the scoring in the 20th minute to crown a tremendous Leicester attack.
Chelsea had plenty of possession but struggled to get shots on target and when they did they found Janina Leitzig in inspired form in the Leicester goal.
She was finally beaten in the 77th minute when Wieke Kaptein collected the ball in midfield and advanced before firing a sumptuous strike from outside the box, though Leitzig redeemed herself with a string of fine late saves to secure the draw for her side.
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor; editing by Clare Fallon)
