Beattie strike secures win for Arsenal - Chelsea and Lincoln off the mark

By David Brenchley

Arsenal Ladies 1-0 Bristol Academy Women

A stunning long range strike from Jennifer Beattie gave Arsenal their second win of the FA WSL season and put them into second place in the league.

It was a hard fought victory for the Gunners and Bristol were unfortunate to concede the winning goal seven minutes from time - but it was a worthy winner of any game.

Arsenal were dealt an early blow when skipper Faye White was stretchered off after 20 minutes, just before Rachel Yankey had a goal ruled out for offside.

The hosts dominated the game but had to work hard to break down a resolute Academy defence as Katie Chapman hit the crossbar from the edge of the area.

It was Beattie's 30-yard effort that finally clinched the three points and she said: "I've not scored a goal that good in a while

"I don't know what I was thinking; I just had the ball at my feet and decided to strike it. I saw Kate's effort earlier and saw that it was moving quite a lot in the air so I just went for it and thankfully it went in."

Gunners manager Laura Harvey admits she fears White could be sidelined for a while, saying: "It was a close game. I thought it was going to take a goal like that in the end to split the two teams.

"Faye's injury is potentially a bad one. We can assess it overnight and in the morning and then get a true reflection of how bad it actually is.

"To lose your captain so early on was disappointing but it shows the strength we've got that we can bring on a player like Gilly Flaherty who can play as well as she did."

Chelsea Ladies 1-1 Lincoln Ladies

Lincoln and Chelsea gained their first point of the season with a draw in front of a disappointing crowd of 273 - a far cry from their 2,510 attendance last Wednesday against Arsenal.

The goals came either side of half time; Carla Cantrall headed a Leandra Little flick goalwards 10 minutes before the interval but Sophie Perry equalised in the 48th minute from a Claire Rafferty corner.

The Lady Imps had plenty of chances to win the game, as they did last week against Doncaster, none of which were closer than when Chelsea midfielder Dani Buet headed against her own crossbar from a Sue Smith free kick.

Manager Rod Wilson was unhappy to come away with just a point and has revealed Little may be sidelined after going off with suspected knee ligament damage.

"I'm disappointed because we completely dominated the first half and wasted about four good chances," he said.

"I need to calm down a bit because I should be happy with a point away from home against a side who lost only 1-0 to Arsenal, but we had our opportunities and we should have been more ruthless.

"We need to toughen up. I reckon we had more possession against Chelsea than Arsenal did, but we did not make the most out of it and the scoreline should have been 2-0 or 3-0 at half-time.

"And also, I felt in the second half a couple of players switched off and did not do their job properly, which I am unhappy about.

"I'm pretty sure Leandra won't make Sunday's game. She went in for a challenge, her leg got planted and her studs were stuck in the pitch - I have to say the surface wasn't brilliant anyway - and that's how she was injured."