Chelsea 1 Manchester United 0

Casey Stoney, the head coach of Manchester United women, has accused referees of failing to keep pace with the professionalisation of women’s football and called on the Football Association to urgently address the standard of Super League officiating.

After seeing her United team lose 1-0 to a hugely controversial penalty, Stoney was joined by Chelsea and England striker Beth England in strongly criticising the performance of referee Jack Packman, who was a third replacement after two other officials pulled out through tonsillitis and injury.

“The league needs to look at it,” said England, who referenced two studs-up tackles. “It’s not OK. Where is the protection for the players? The decisions, for me, were embarrassing. We want to put in good performances and, when referees are giving bad decisions that are killing the game, it's hard. I hope that they will watch the game and look at how badly they did. I thought they were appalling today.”

The frustrations centred on two incidents. United defender Amy Turner had already been booked in the first half when she was penalised for a tackle that her team-mates were convinced was not a foul. Packman awarded a free-kick but then instead booked Abbie McManus, leaving Chelsea aggrieved that Turner was not dismissed for a second yellow card. Then, in the decisive moment of the match during the second half, Packman ruled that Millie Turner had upended Fran Kirby and gave a penalty. Maren Mjelde duly stepped up to score the winning goal, which put Chelsea back ahead of Manchester City at the top of the Women’s Super League table.