Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw’s opener inside the 14th minute set us up for the potentially crucial success as we maintained our 10th shutout of the season so far in all competitions.
It also extended our tremendous defensive record in 2023/24, with the Blues’ eight goals conceded in the WSL representing the fewest across the division.
What’s more, the victory over Emma Hayes’ side has moved us level with the league leading Londoners with eight league matches of the season remaining.
City v Chelsea: Conti Cup tickets on sale NOW!
And the boss paid tribute to our heroic rearguard action which helped us win at Kingsmeadow.
“I think you have to give great credit to the way we defended as a team,” he explained.
“I thought we were throwing bodies. I didn’t enjoy the second half I’ll be honest for the second game in a row, but we know we can look after the ball much better than that in the second half.
“How can I be critical of the team? They’ve been superb defensively this season. We’ve got so much desire to keep clean sheets.
“It’s not just Khiara, it’s Alex Greenwood, Alanna [Kennedy]. It was a hell of a block from Alanna when she came on. Demi Stokes doesn’t play for ages and then comes into a game like that and is all hands to the pump.
“We’ve got things we need to improve on but it’s a big step for us. It’s a big step.”
City’s victory at Kingsmeadow represented our first at the home of Chelsea since 2016 and ended the hosts’ 33 match unbeaten streak on their own patch.
And Taylor believes we deserved to end Hayes’ team’s superb record in the battling 1-0 success in the capital.
He added: “It’s my first win here. It’s true, they made it a bit of a fortress and we’ve broken that record now and I think the girls deserved it.
“We played some good stuff in the first half and in the second half we broke and should’ve done better with the counter attacking.
“Towards the end it was a fantastic display of defensive work from the whole team.”
