Chloe Kelly ready for WSL title decider – but one goal still remains

The tale of the women’s game’s progression has been told many times before. Decades of hardship, a league beginning to blossom, milestones reached, then an explosion. Then another; and another. It can’t help at times but verge on the surreal.

“It just feels like yesterday that I was playing at Southport in front of not very many fans,” recalls Chloe Kelly. That time was only four years ago.

Writers spend an age trying to conjure up the correct metaphors; the task is easier when Kelly is the subject of the interview. Her story is a perfect personification of the game’s development. Her’ semi-final finish at the 2019 World Cup and the professionalisation of the top flight, it was still markedly different to nowadays.