Sonia Bompastor, the Chelsea head coach, called for goalline technology to be brought into the Women’s Super League next season after Sam Kerr was controversially denied a hat-trick in a 4-1 victory at Everton.
The Chelsea and Australia striker scored with two clinical low finishes – either side of a long-range drive from Everton’s Yuka Momiki – to put Chelsea 2-1 up, and replays showed that Kerr should have been awarded a third goal, when her header bounced on to the post and rolled over the line before being flicked away by the Everton goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan.
Chelsea scored twice more to make their win safe regardless, as Ellie Carpenter poked in for 3-1 before Erin Cuthbert drove in a low finish late on, greatly strengthening Chelsea’s hopes of Champions League qualification on a day when their rivals Manchester United dropped points in a 0-0 draw at Tottenham.
Had the goal been given, Kerr would have become Chelsea’s leading WSL goalscorer. Instead, her strikes saw her move level on 63 WSL goals for the club alongside her former teammate Fran Kirby.
“She levelled the most league goals with Fran Kirby but in reality she went top because that goal was a clear goal. I think it just shows again, we need to have the technology next season in this league,” said Bompastor during her post-match press conference.
“The league is the most competitive league in the world and we need to be at a really good level in terms of these decisions. We won the game by a three-goal difference so it didn’t create a lot of conversations, but if we had been in a situation where the goal-difference at the end of the season would have been important, then this goal is something I would have been really upset about. So that’s mainly the reason, we need the technology for things to be fair for everyone.”
United’s draw left their European hopes out of their hands, four points behind with two rounds of league games left, and Chelsea would now be assured of a Champions League spot if they beat struggling Leicester City next Sunday.
Leicester, meanwhile, look increasingly destined to face a playoff to avoid relegation, after they lost 5-1 away at London City Lionesses while second-from-bottom West Ham won 1-0 at Liverpool to move seven points above Leicester, who have three games to go.
Elsewhere, Portsmouth were relegated from WSL2 to the third tier following their 1-0 loss at home to Nottingham Forest, coupled with Ipswich’s shock 3-0 win against the league leaders Birmingham City.
Birmingham had known a victory would all-but mathematically guarantee promotion to the top flight but they now face a nail-biting final-day meeting with their promotion rivals Charlton, with Crystal Palace also moving level on points with Birmingham with their win at Sunderland.
