CSKA Moscow 4-1 Swansea City: Chivers nets as Swans bow out of UWCL
Chloe Chivers of Swansea City in celebrates her goal against Briton Ferry with Kelly Adams. Briton Ferry v Swansea City at Old Road in the Welsh Premier Women's League on the 8th April 2021. Credit: Lewis Mitchell/YCPD
Swansea City will not progress in the Champions League despite a valiant 4-1 defeat to CSKA Moscow in extra time.
Nevena Damjanović had put CSKA in front in the 89th minute before substitute Chloe Chivers snatched a 90th-minute equaliser for the Welsh champions.
Two extra-time goals from captain Nadezhda Smirnova and a strike from Margarita Chernomyrdina saw the Russian side advance to the Group 6 final.
Despite conceding four goals it was a fantastic performance from the amateur Swansea side who made it extremely difficult for the professional CSKA all evening.
It was CSKA who got the action underway and it didn’t take long until they were on top.
Claire Skinner was kept busy as she had to clean up with overhit long balls from CSKA who were looking to release their rapid attackers on goal.
They had two penalty appeals turned away on 24 minutes when Tetyana Kozyrenko went down twice in quick succession.
The Ukraine international was booked for simulation as the ref deemed her to have gone down too easily under the challenge from Kelly Adams.
A defensive mix up from Swansea led to a chance for Gordon to open the scoring, but Ellie Lake was positioned well on the line to clear the ball.
The best chance of the first half fell to Francisa Ordega who’s shot from close range was well saved by Skinner.
A loose pass from CSKA allowed Swansea to break down the right through Stacy John-Davis who couldn’t find Katy Hosford in the box.
Gordan had a golden opportunity to open the scoring at the start of the second half when she was played in behind the Swans defence.
The former Dijon forward broke away from Alicia Powe before dragging her effort wide of the far post, unopposed by the Swansea defence.
Sergei Lavrentyev’s side continued to dominate in the second half but Swansea were able to restrict them to playing out wide.
After 89 minutes of pressure, CSKA scored what looked to be a late winner through Novena Damjanović, who tapped the ball home from an excellent Nadezhda Smirnova cutback.
Many teams would have struggled to pick themselves up after conceding a late goal, but not Swansea City.
Katy Hosford played in substitute Chloe Chivers who fired past the goalkeeper from 25 yards to get Swasea straight back on level terms in the 90th minute.
The Swans could have won it in the 94th minute as Chivers once again found herself Infront of the goal but her effort was denied by Elvira Todua.
Just 56 seconds into extra time CSKA were back in the lead through Smirnova.
The CSKA captain received the ball from Pozdeeva on the right of the box before firing past a mass of Swansea defenders.
Just as she did after the first goal, Chivers had a chance to get the Swans back level but this time her effort from distance flashed just over the crossbar.
Smirnova fired home from the edge of the box on 110 minutes to get her second of extra time and put the game out of Swansea’s reach
Two minutes later CSKA wrapped up the game when the ball fell kindly to Margarita Chernomyrdina to fire past Skinner for her sides fourth of the evening.
Swansea will now face Dinamo Minsk in the Group 6 third-place playoff.
CSKA Moscow: Elvira Todua, Yuliya Pleshkova, Tijana Jankovic, Nevena Damjanović, Yulia Myasnikova, Margarita Chernomyrdina, Kseniya Kovalenko (Anastasiya Pozdeeva, 73), Nadezhda Smirnova (c), Sh’Nia Gordon (Marina Kiskonen, 82), Tetyana Kozyrenko, Francisa Ordega (Gabrielle Onguene, 60)
Goals: Nevena Damjanović 89′, Nadezhda Smirnova 91′, 110′ Margarita Chernomyrdina 112′
Swansea City: Claire Skinner, Ellie Lake, Shaunna Jenkins, Alicia Powe (c), Ria Hughes, Kelly Adams (Laura Davies, 83), Tija Richardson, Emma Beynon, Rhianne Oakley (Chloe Chivers, 62), Stacy John-Davis (Sarah Adams, 98), Katy Hosford.
Goals: Chloe Chivers 90′
