The Blues dominated from the first whistle and were rewarded with another early goal as Beever-Jones’s strike from the edge of the box in the seventh minute took a deflection on its way in.

Not long afterwards, Hamano doubled our advantage with a moment of magic, lobbing the ball over Twente’s Olivia Clark from midway inside our hosts’ half. It may be early in the campaign, but it will take some beating for our best goal this season!

Possession, territory and chances remained in our favour as the contest wore on, and we added to our lead through a Guro Reiten penalty on the hour. Another sub, Mayra Ramirez, had won it with some clever skill, and our brilliant Norwegian made no mistake in scoring her 50th Chelsea goal.

The Dutch champions reduced the arrears with a quarter of the game remaining, Nikee van Dijk finding the bottom corner, but this was very much Chelsea’s night as we moved to the top of Group B.

The teams

Sonia Bompastor made seven changes to the side that started at Arsenal on Saturday, among them handing Oriane Jean-Francois a full Chelsea debut.

Zecira Musovic started her second European game of the season, and ahead of her Eve Perisset and Nathalie Bjorn came into a back four.

The other fresh faces were Ashley Lawrence, Maika Hamano and Beever-Jones. Wieke Kaptein started against her former club, and Kadeisha Buchanan skippered with Millie Bright named on a strong bench.

Shortly before kick-off, Lauren James was replaced in the starting XI by Johanna Rytting Kaneryd.

Another fast start

It was Rytting Kaneryd who set up the opener at the end of a patient Chelsea passing move. She worked the ball to Beever-Jones, whose 20-yard strike took a deflection off Lieske Carleer and looped over Olivia Clark in the Twente goal. Just like against Real Madrid and Arsenal, we had an early lead.

Beever-Jones had a chance to double it soon afterwards, volleying over, and Hamano then couldn’t hit the target with two close-range efforts.

Pure genius

How the Japanese attacker made up for those misses! Exchanging passes with Kaptein, Hamano spotted Clark off her line and, from a good 35 yards out, beautifully lobbed the keeper. It was some way to score her first Champions League goal, and her first of the season.

Midway through the first half, Twente threatened for the first time after we lost possession in our defensive third. The ball was fed to Van Dijk, who found her match in Musovic.

Chelsea remained the more threatening side until the interval, although clear sights of goal were not easy to come by.

At half-time, Bompastor replaced Baltimore and Buchanan with Reiten and Maelys Mpome. Reiten took the armband.

A patient Chelsea move opened up space for Rytting Kaneryd, but her shot was deflected into the side-netting. At the other end, Van Dijk fired straight at Musovic during a rare Twente attack.

Chelsea kept probing in search of the third goal that would end the contest. Hamano nearly got it with a curled strike that had Clark worried but whistled past the post.

On the hour, Erin Cuthbert and Mayra Ramirez replaced Jean-Francois and Rytting Kaneryd respectively. It had been a tidy full debut for the French midfielder.

Bench impact

Ramirez was immediately in the thick of the action, carrying the ball into the box before being felled by Lieske Carleer as she cutely cut inside. Reiten sent Clark the wrong way to bring up a half-century of Chelsea goals.

Midway through the second half, the hosts got one back. Ella Peddermors’ pinpoint pass released Van Dijk, and this time she beat Musovic with her shot across goal. It was probably what Twente deserved for a more enterprising second-half display. They even had a couple of half-chances to further reduce the deficit.

Still, the three points were ours as we moved clear at the top of Group B by that very margin following Real Madrid’s 4-0 win over Celtic earlier in the day.

What’s next?

We return to Kingsmeadow on Sunday to play Tottenham Hotspur. Kick-off is at 6.45pm. Our next European assignment is away to Celtic on Wednesday 13 November.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Musovic; Perisset, Buchanan (c) (Mpome h/t), Bjorn, Lawrence; Kaptein (Bartel 69), Jean-Francois (Cuthbert 60); Rytting Kaneryd (Ramirez 60), Hamano, Baltimore (Reiten h/t); Beever-Jones

Unused subs Hampton, Cox, Bronze, Bright, Nusken, James

Scorers Beever-Jones 7, Hamano 18, Reiten (pen) 63

Twente (4-2-3-1): Clark; Vliek, Carleer, Knol, Tuin; Van Ginkel (c), Te Brake (Proost 86); Van Dijk, Van Dooren (Ivens 74), Peddemors (Hulst 74); Andradottir (Ravensbergen 79)

Unused subs De Jong, Bussman, Vissers, Everaerts, Bormans, Elberink, Verdaasdonk, Galic

Scorer Van Dijk 68

Referee Maria Caputi from Italy

Crowd 4000