The Blues triumphed 3-1 over Brighton at Kingsmeadow, but the scoreline tells only part of the story of a game which Chelsea dominated from start to finish, with Guro Reiten, Jess Carter and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd firing us into a well-deserved lead before Danielle Carter’s late consolation goal for the visitors.

Carter and Rytting Kaneryd were two of seven players who came into the team in a much-changed side following Sunday’s loss to Arsenal in the Continental League Cup final, with the way those introductions performed, as well as Jelena Cankovic’s star showing against the Seagulls after being substituted in the first half at Selhurst Park, giving her particular satisfaction.

‘I’m delighted with the result and delighted with the players who have come into the team,’ said Hayes. ‘Sometimes you have to work hard in the background and it doesn’t always feel like you get the reward for it, because not everybody gets picked every week.

‘So for Kaneryd to come in and get her first goal for the club, I’m over the moon. For Cankovic to have a Player of the Match performance after being taken out on Sunday, I’m super proud of her. For Maren Mjelde coming in again and being the unbelievable steward that she has been, Zecira [Musovic] in goal, Jessie Fleming, all the changes. I’m super proud of the players. We’ve got minutes in the bank and we’ve got to recover players we need to recover in preparation for Sunday.’

However, it was the way her team reacted to the disappointment of the previous match which pleased Hayes the most, as she explains her players couldn’t wait for the chance to bounce back.

‘It’s one of the reasons I love my team so much. It always feels massively disappointing when we’re outperformed on every level, but what a great reaction and response from the team. If we could have played Sunday evening we would have, I don’t think motivation was our issue.

‘You’ve got to get over disappointment really quickly and for me the disappointment is less about how well Arsenal played, because they were outstanding, but by our own standards we let ourselves down and we know that. But we’ve dealt with that, we’ve moved on from that and, as I’ve said before, what an amazing dressing room I’ve got that we can deal with disappointment and make changes like we did and still perform and produce results.

‘It’s a squad effort and I value the squad and I think one of the only ways you can show you value it is playing players. I would have liked a clean sheet but I’m not going to be picky and spend too much time chasing perfect, I’m proud of our girls today.’

The win over Brighton leaves us just one point behind Manchester United at the top of the Women’s Super League table, with a game in hand, ahead of hosting United at home in our next fixture this weekend, with the chance to take the lead in one of the tightest title races the league has seen.

‘We’re trying to win the league and it’s three points pushing us closer towards that, that’s what we have to remember,’ she added. ‘It’s great that the race for the league is what it is, it’s what I’ve always wanted, so I’m excited about that, but I love playing at Kingsmeadow, the team love playing at Kingsmeadow, it’s going to be packed here on Sunday and it’s going to be two fabulous teams playing for the title. They’re the days you want and I’m looking forward to it.’