REPUBLIC OF IRELAND captain Katie McCabe made her 100th Women’s Super League [WSL] appearance yesterday.
The Arsenal star celebrated the landmark milestone by playing a key role in her side’s 3-1 come-from-behind win over West Ham.
🎶 We’ve got…
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) October 30, 2022
100 huge WSL appearances for the one and only @Katie_McCabe11 💪 pic.twitter.com/npSWezVuID
The Gunners and Manchester United both triumphed to extend their 100% WSL records.
United won 3-0 at Everton with Nikita Parris opening the scoring against her former club — who had Ireland’s Courtney Brosnan in goal — after 13 minutes. Leah Galton and Hayley Ladd were on target in the second half as United became the first team since Manchester City in 2016 to win their first five WSL games without conceding a goal.
And McCabe’s Arsenal set a new WSL record of 13 successive wins.
Dagny Brynjarsdottir put the Hammers ahead following a mistake in the Gunners defence. But goals from Jordan Nobbs, Stina Blackstenius and Frida Maanum gave Arsenal victory, whose goal difference is just one worse off than United.
Irish international Izzy Atkinson came on for West Ham late on, while the injured Jess Ziu is also on the books of the London side. But it was McCabe and Arsenal who reigned supreme in the capital, 24 hours after she watched Katie Taylor win at Wembley:
Katie McCabe just ruined a poor fellas evening
— IrishPropaganda🇮🇪⚽️ (@IrishPropaganda) October 30, 2022
Football heritage 😂🇮🇪pic.twitter.com/CxL75S8IGm
Elsewhere, Chelsea, fresh from demolishing Albania’s Vllaznia 8-0 in the Champions League, made it five consecutive WSL wins with a 3-1 victory over Aston Villa.
Lauren James put the champions ahead midway through the first half, but Rachel Daly levelled before half-time. James restored Chelsea’s lead two minutes after the break before Sam Kerr’s fifth goal of the week settled matters. Ruesha Littlejohn remains on the comeback trail for Villa.
Chelsea are level on points with Arsenal and Manchester United having played a game more.
Manchester City recorded a third straight success with a 2-1 victory over Liverpool — form whom Niamh Fahey and Megan Campbell played the full game, with Leanne Kiernan out injured.
Substitute Hayley Raso grabbed the winner 15 minutes from time after Khadija Shaw’s opener had been cancelled out by Katie Stengel.
Tottenham thrashed Brighton 8-0 to move up to fifth. It was a difficult day for the Seagulls’ Ireland ‘keeper Megan Walsh, while Megan Connolly was not involved.
Spurs led 4-0 at the break with Nikola Karczewska, Ashleigh Neville and Drew Spence building on Molly Bartrip’s second-minute opener. Neville and Drew Spence got on the scoresheet again before the hour-mark before substitute Jessica Naz added her own double.
Reading beat Leicester 2-1 in an incredible basement battle as Rachel Rowe scored twice in the dying moments.
Natasha Flint gave Leicester a 36th-minute lead with a superb effort from outside the box. Reading levelled in the final minute when Rowe scored direct from a corner, and the Wales international then struck from distance two minutes into stoppage time.
The Royals’ first points of the season took them up to ninth while Leicester remain rooted to the bottom of the table after six straight defeats.
Diane Caldwell played her part for Reading, though Grace Moloney was again absent — the Ireland goalkeeper not featuring in matchday squads since the controversial post World Cup play-off celebrations.
In the Championship, Louise Quinn and Lucy Quinn were both on target as Birmingham City enjoyed a 2-1 win over Sheffield United. Chloe Mustaki helped Bristol City stay top, as she was among the assists in a 2-0 away win at Charlton.
Further afield, Kyra Carusa captained HB Koge to a 4-0 win over Farum as they remain at the summit of the Danish league.
Niamh Farrelly and Amber Barrett were substitutes in Italy and Germany respectively; the former introduced late on in Parma’s scoreless draw at Sampdoria — their manager Fabio Ulderici was sacked afterwards — and the latter thrown in to struggling Potsdam’s heavy 5-0 defeat to Freiburg.
- with reporting from Emma Duffy.
