Erithacus

Well the Villa game ends 0-0 and that makes it a one point gap for CIty (with a draw against United a given at the moment). Still not an open door yet. Also a crazy end to the Chelsea-Bayern Champions' League semi. Coach Emma Hayes an emotional tizzy and giving an unreconstructed post-match interview.

Have to be realistic and say I'm not too hopeful of today's game against Man U - even though we do have form! A point would be a real boost. The bigger test is Brighton next time out, but I'll be keeping an eye out for the Villa/Hammers match. Anything for the Villains and it will make City's task much more difficult. COYR!

If the West Ham/Villa game remains goalless, a draw would drop City to the bottom.

Concerning report about the state of things at Birmingham. Seems the women's side is being given second rate treatment by the club and the squad is making it official. Also concerning is the note about the FA helping them to complete their fixtures. Does this make the picture more cloudy? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56642488

I'd like to think it will be to the girls' advantage, but I suspect that Arsenal will not crumble because of that.

A decent result, but a win would have been better. Equaliser from ex-Vixen Murray. Now third from bottom, a point ahead of Villa and two ahead of the Hammers. Both have two games in hand though and more importantly they play each other twice before the end of the season. It's going to be a close one.

Match stats look pretty even, just the matter of who finishes better perhaps. Or who wants it more. COYP&L!

The Blues wear blue/white, we wear purple/lime? Seems an easy one to confuse over blue against red. But that's what the ref has called - let's hope there's no need to complain about it afterwards. A repeat of the same fixture from thirteen months ago will do nicely.

Handily, West Ham and Spurs both lost today. Villa are at Chelsea so the City girls have an opportunity to grab three points at Brum tomorrow. Vital games, vital results.

Ends 1-1 then. Really need wins from somewhere. You know what they say about beating the teams around you.

Set pieces do work. The skipper pops up for a corner and heads one in! Game on. 1-1 Salmon then smashes a 20-yard volley onto the post. Fraction away.

Ah, that must make us a selling club. Football's equivalent to Sisyphus. Meantime, the girls are off to a bad start: 1 down to a free kick after 3 mins.

An interesting decision. Just who made it and were they part of an independent government department or a football insider? It is a highly political move that has highlighted the uneven financial playing field we have at the top of the women's game. What do the excluded teams make of it? I guess it works out to about £100,000 for City. Useful but not a game-changer.

Not so bad as some might have predicted and the stats seem to show it wasn't all one-way traffic. Cause for optimism? Crucially, Villa lost as well but the Hammers earned a 2-2 draw. That lifts them up on GD with City back on the bottom, Villa a point above. The bottom five teams are now separated by just 4 points. It's going to be a desperate end to this season.

A real test of the girls' mettle, and back to Twerton. It will show Beard who has the appetite for the fight for the rest of the season. Elsewhere, West Ham take on Birmingham and Villa are home to Brighton - both could be key games. COYR! COYV!

The reality of modern English football regardless of gender: money talks and the WSL might stand for Wealth Secures Leadership. It will prompt many to ask how the Vixens fit into the overall Bristol Sport portfolio, but if they had remained as The Academy you might ponder where would they be now? Either way, it is what it is. Move on to the Man City game, (possibly not much joy there) but then it's up against Spurs, Birmingham and Villa - all vital matches.

What a disappointment that turned out to be. It's a real shame that City were comprehensively outclassed but that's the reality: Chelsea's bench had more internationals than the Vixens' squad. The gulf was enormous and after an awful start there was only one way this game would pan out. I was hoping the girls would show more of the sort of abilities they have in recent weeks but we hardly had a sniff. Perhaps a consolation goal would have been handy. We might look at the starting formation and question it but I don't think that mere tactics were the problem. Chelsea thought quicker, ran quicker and were a country mile better technically. They were expecting good things to happen and made them. Simple. City had some respectable individual performances but overall were second best in almost all departments, too often arriving behind the opponents. Mielda's injury looks pretty bad, maybe the curse of the female knee. As an international that will be a serious worry. But in the fullness of time, we need to be back to the routine of league games. It might be that we're used to adversity - after all, we lost 9-0 to Chelsea before so maybe there is something to hang on to.

Well that was a miserable first half. Chelsea were all too capable of capitalising on our mistakes. Too often we had little composure or application and that caused some uncharacteristic errors. Baggers has not let us down much all season, but today was not the day. Daniels is normally better with her distribution and the marking was always going to be difficult against a team packed full of internationals. Salmon has hardly seen the ball, and then about 40 yards from our own line. The midfield is reduced to a lot of shadow chasing. Once they got off to a bad start so early it forces them to drop back; that confines the play in our own back yard. If there is a chance to go forwards, they then leave some open areas for Chelsea to expoit. They have us where they want us. However, it still is a terrible scoreline to be in with. Beard may have to make some serious changes, although I can't see it making any real difference. It will be about restoring some pride to take into the remainder of the league season. That's the priority.

Hoping for a good performance today, although the odds are not favourable. I suspect Chelsea will have some plans to isolate Salmon and make it difficult to get forwards. However, this team under Matt Beard has shaken off the early season form and aren't going to be a pushover. It's been a while since our last final appearances. As the Academy, the girls were FA Cup finalists in 2011 and 2013, beaten in both by Arsenal. Ironically, during that era the 2012 final was held at Ashton Gate but that saw Birmingham beat Chelsea on penalties. COYR! COYV!

They don't play in the Toolstation, it's the WSL. And they don't play Toolstation teams.

First and foremost - a win, and a vital one at that! Moves us up above the Hammers although we are a game worse that those around us. Secondly, a great team performance: so many good examples being set tonight. Evans was a rock and read everything, Salmon a constant threat and some solid efforts by some very young players. Could this be the moment the season takes off? I tip my hat to Matt Beard - he's got them working. Hopefully this will inspire the team, Conti Cup Final on Sunday notwithstanding.

Mr Pearson, are you watching? Come to that, are the strikers?

Got caught a bit flat at the back there. A tight 15 minutes left.

Great finish! Good young player with real potential.

Ashton Gate - the two code stadium!