3 (4) London Bees
3 (2) Chelsea

IT’S becoming a familiar question at Chelsea recently: does this team want it enough?

Saturday’s loss to London Bees in the League Cup on penalties came as a shock to many as the league champions went into the first-round match as firm favourites.

However, the past few weeks has seen a team tipped to dominate this season struggle to win matches they’re expected to sail through and some have called into question the team’s hunger for trophies.

The FA Cup final defeat to Arsenal was the first glimpse Blues fans saw this season of a lack of urgency and determination.

A few days later, at home to Manchester City, a similar performance from Emma Hayes’s side once again left supporters feeling let down, like the team was struggling to match the high standards set last season.

After this recent loss, Hayes called into question the spirit of some her players, saying that the Bees “put everything on the line for their team. A fantastic effort against a group of professional players and they deserve what they got from the game.

“It wasn’t about who has the best individuals because that’s clear. Ultimately the best team won because they took all elements of the game seriously and they respected the opponent.

“You’ve got to do everything you can to make it difficult for your opponent and do your best to give young players the best chance to shine.

“So that’s the question I’m going to ask of my team. Did we do our best by our young players today?”

Beth England gave the away side an early lead before a Gilly Flaherty own-goal levelled the scores in the second half.

Chelsea were reduced to 10 when Niamh Fahey saw red on the 75-minute mark and the Bees capitalised five minutes later via Jo Wilson.

Bright’s stoppage-time equaliser sent the game to extra time, where England grabbed her second of the match to give her side the lead.

But the Bees kept going and Deana Cooper took the match to penalties with six minutes remaining.

Merrick Will scored the winning penalty and said that her side believed they could cause an upset from the start.

“It was brilliant,” she said. “We came into it with not much pressure and I knew we could do it. We definitely went in there underestimated and I think that showed in our performance.”