Sam Kerr scored a last-gasp winner to clinch all three points as the race for the WSL title intensifies. Kerr’s 92nd-minute strike was her 50th goal for the club and caused jubilant scenes at Kingsmeadow.

‘I even went down the touchline, which I never do!’ Hayes exclaimed.

‘After the week we’ve just had, you compete for championships when you win games like that. Games when you are not at your best, I didn’t think we looked the freshest, you have a hat-full of chances but you don’t convert. The opposition played really, really well too, you’re down to your bare bones and we’re competing for a championship because we’re able to win a game like that.

‘Amazing spirit and camaraderie from the players to do that, they gutted that out.’ Hayes added.

The boss was full of praise for the Blues faithful, who cheered the team on until the final whistle.

‘I heard them at the 90th minute saying "that’s why we’re champions!". That was before we’d scored, they were singing for the champions at 0-0.

‘All I kept thinking was, we are in our most difficult moment, you’re not abandoning the team and we are not abandoning you. We have to stick together – you know everybody’s against us right now. And that I think is giving us strength knowing that we’ve got each other, and everybody contributed to that win today.’

On Kerr’s stoppage-time winner, Hayes added: ‘I definitely felt a release in my own emotions, I realised that when I nearly lifted Sam Kerr up! I’m always present to perform, but I’m human and this has been hard and we need to count on each other and we did.

‘I’ve always said it, I wouldn’t want to be in any other dressing room because we managed to come through really tough times together and all the values and cultures that have been established here over time, they are really kicking into place in the time we need it most and for that reason I’m really proud of everyone.’

The boss also touched upon the off-field events that have been dominating headlines in the media this week.

‘I know our place within our club, I know our importance and I don’t want any of us to be punished or vilified. You know at the end of the day, Chelsea Football Club is important to the community and I think as quickly as possible we can resume a sale, so that we can get on with the business of talking about teams and not everything in and around that.

‘I’m not worried about us, I think we are a valuable asset to the football club and I know that internally and I don’t expect that to change.’

The Blues are back in action when we travel to Everton on Wednesday evening in the WSL before hosting Birmingham City in the quarter-final of the Vitality Women’s FA Cup on Sunday.