The Blues met Bristol City in our first fixture at Kingsmeadow since February and dominated from start to finish as Emma Hayes’ side recorded our first win of our Barclays FA Women’s Super League campaign.Kirby, netting her first goal in 16 months, opened the scoring with 15 minutes on the clock when her effort went through the Bristol goalkeeper and into the back of the net.Speaking at full-time, Kirby said: ‘It was really nice to get a goal. I’ve had a really good pre-season and I’ve found my stride throughout that.‘It was always important for me to get that first goal and maybe I would have liked the goal to look a little bit nicer. They all count through, it went in so I was delighted and I was delighted as well with the team performance. It was incredible.’

Our No.14 was one of nine Chelsea players to score on Sunday afternoon and joining the England international on the scoresheet was recent signing Pernille Harder.

Entering the field with less than 20 minutes to play, Harder grabbed herself a goal and an assist on her home debut and Kirby believes the addition of the Denmark international has already had a positive impact on the squad.‘She’s come in and she’s really shown her quality in training,’ Kirby said. ‘It’s always exciting when you sign a player like Pernille. We have world-class players in the team so we want to keep building on that.‘She’s been a breath of fresh air and it was great for her to get her first goal. She came in and had an impact on the game and that’s what you want to do coming on as a substitute.‘It’s been a learning curve for everyone with her coming in, she’s showcased her talent and it’s exciting for us.‘It’s of course a lot more competition for us but we want to keep that healthy competition and keep pushing each other in the right way. As long as we keep doing that we know the teamwork will be there.’

There is now a break in domestic football with a number of the Blues heading off to compete with their national teams in the Euro 2021 qualifiers or training camps. We will next be in action on Sunday 27 September when we take on Everton for a place in the 2019/20 FA Cup semi-final.