Sonia Bompastor lauded the “magic” contact of Lauren James after the Chelsea star’s stoppage-time winner towards Everton on Sunday.
Chelsea appeared set to drop factors for simply the second time this Ladies’s Tremendous League marketing campaign, till James fired into the underside nook from 25 yards within the 93rd minute.
Mayra Ramirez had earlier cancelled out Kelly Gago’s 51st-minute opener for Everton as Chelsea appeared set to not declare all three factors for the primary time since their 1-1 draw with Leicester Metropolis in December.
Nevertheless, James stepped up because the hero with a strike that kissed the woodwork on the best way in, a lot to the delight of Chelsea head coach Bompastor.
“I’ve already mentioned loads about LJ, her potential and all of her abilities,” Bompastor mentioned. “If we didn’t have her on the pitch till the tip, we couldn’t have gained the sport. That’s easy.
“You have to have these artistic gamers and gamers with these abilities to win video games. She simply confirmed her magic.
“She has been in a position to play two 90-minute video games, so she’s getting again to actually fine condition.
“She additionally defended loads for the workforce and that’s additionally one thing we’ve been speaking about collectively to verify she works actually exhausting for the workforce.”
LAUREN JAMES IN STOPPAGE TIME! #CFCW pic.twitter.com/mxc55R5tSG
— Chelsea FC Ladies (@ChelseaFCW) February 16, 2025
The win stored Chelsea seven factors clear on the WSL summit, having recorded their twenty sixth win throughout their final 27 matches in all competitions.
“Typically it’s good for feelings, even for the followers or the gamers, to dwell these feelings,” Bompastor added.
“You must battle till the tip. As you may see from the start of the season, typically I do not need a variety of reactions on the targets and every thing. However, this one, I reacted a bit extra.”
It was the second time in every week that Everton had taken the lead earlier than falling to Chelsea, who got here from behind to win 4-1 of their FA Cup assembly earlier than this fixture.
For Bompastor, there was a way of “deja vu”, although the ever-reliant Blues as soon as once more discovered a method to win and maintain their hopes of an unbeaten WSL season alive.
“We knew in transition Everton may damage us. After we strive typically to push and rating a objective, we depart extra space they usually had the chance to use the area,” she continued.
“That they had a great efficiency they usually got here again [from the FA Cup game last weekend] with one other mindset and high quality out of possession.
“It’s deja vu as a result of it’s the identical case as final week [coming from a goal down]. Right now, once more, we believed it was doable to come back again and win this sport. That is what I’m most happy with.”