Football / Bristol City Women
City Women win at Ashton Gate to climb off bottom of WSL table
As Massive Attack’s Unfinished Sympathy blasted out of the speakers of Ashton Gate Stadium ahead of kick-off on Monday evening, another anniversary was marked a bit more quietly.
It is 30 years since that song was released and on Monday it was exactly 365 days since Ashton Gate had welcomed fans.
Inside the West Stand, a poster for Onward with the release date of March 2020 was a relic of those times when thousands of fans thronged through the concourses.
March 2020: the month when fans were last allowed inside Ashton Gate – photo: Martin Booth
But for Bristol City Women, the occasion was not one for looking back but one which could be a major springboard for the remainder of their season.
This is the start of a hugely significant week for the team, starting with fighting for their league status in BS3 and finishing on Sunday with a trip to Watford’s Vicarage Road for the final of the Continental Cup against Chelsea.
With goals from Charlie Wellings, Jemma Purfield and Ebony Salmon, City won 3-2 in one of the games of the season in the Women’s Super League.
It was a win that took Matt Beard’s side off the bottom of the WSL table, leapfrogging his former team West Ham, and with only one team being relegated it was a hugely significant three points.
In front of the BT Sport cameras, this was a brilliant advert for women’s football with some superb goals, end to end action and ending in a much-needed win.
Reading were reduced to ten players in injury time with goalscorer Rachel Rowe shown a second yellow card, but this was City’s evening on International Women’s Day.
Main photo: JMP
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