Ellie Carpenter made a superb start to life in London, assisting Chelsea’s opening goal as the Blues defeated Manchester City 2-1 at Stamford Bridge in the Women’s Super League season opener.
The 25-year-old Matilda’s superstar joined Chelsea from French giants Lyon in the recent transfer window, and immediately endeared herself to her new fans with an eye-catching display.
As well as finding Aggie Beever-Jones with an excellent low cross to create the first goal of the new season, Carpenter generated plenty of excitement with her speedy runs down the wing in a player of the match display.
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“She’s a world-class player, genuinely one of the quickest players ever, and just laid it on a plate for me,” Beever-Jones said of Carpenter.
“Aggie tapped it in, so [she] made me look good,” Carpenter said in reply to her new teammate’s compliment.
“It was really nice to create those relationships with the team, being new.
“I think we worked on those foundations, and we’re really gelling as a team.”
Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor, who previously coached Carpenter at Lyon, was also delighted with the Australian’s performance, and made it clear she believes the defender will be a valuable addition to a team chasing their seventh straight league title.
“[It was] a great performance from Ellie. I know Ellie by heart and I’m not really surprised (with her) debut,” Bompastor said.
“She’s a great player. As you could see tonight, she just brought an immediate impact and I think she has this quality. We are really proud to have her in our squad.”
City were without Matildas star Mary Fowler as she is sidelined with an ACL injury, while Sam Kerr’s return to the pitch from her ACL injury will have to wait for at least another match.
The Matildas captain was named in Bompastor’s squad, but was an unused substitute, and remains stuck on 99 goals for the club.
“She was fit to come in the game. It was my decision not to make that call,” Bompastor said.
“Maybe if the game had been 2-0, I would have done something different.
“But 2-1 where City was trying to push hard to score the second goal, I thought maybe I had other options on the bench.”