After a cagey first half hour, Sandy Baltimore broke the deadlock when a small connection on the ball saw her steer home from a Lucy Bronze header back across goal.

It felt like Chelsea were on our way, but when Bronze took an unfortunate touch from a looping ball in, the Toffees were back on level terms just four minutes later, and the teams went in at 1-1 at the break.

Despite Everton not managing a shot on target during the match, the visitors made things really difficult for the Blues, reducing us to half-chances throughout. Their efforts were rewarded as they kept us from adding to the scoreline and took a point away from the Bridge.

Changes made

Sonia Bompastor made four alterations to her starting XI, swapping Veerle Buurman, Nathalie Bjorn and Sjoeke Nusken for Bronze, Kadeisha Buchanan and Erin Cuthbert. Lauren James had unfortunately been ruled out with a hamstring injury earlier in the week, and Wieke Kaptein came into the line-up in her place.

The head coach had mentioned in her pre-match press conference that she expected the visitors to defend well, and that's exactly what happened in the opening stages of the game as the Toffees played in a compact formation as they attempted to negate our strengths.

Our first real attempt came from one of Ellie Carpenter's trademark runs down the flank, and as she let fly with a shot, only a tiny deflection from the defender saw it bounce just wide of the right-hand post. Melvine Malard was next to go close with a header that was just off target, but the offside flag went up soon afterwards to confirm that it wouldn't have counted.

Making the breakthrough

It wasn't going to be easy to break Everton down, but the Blues were getting closer. After a superb one-two with Carpenter, Kaptein blasted her shot towards goal but had her attempt cleared off the line. Our opener came soon afterwards.

After we took a short corner, Katie McCabe swung a cross into the back post to find the head of Bronze. The centre-back cushioned her header across the face of goal, allowing Baltimore to nod home with the slightest of touches.

Yet the Toffees hit back when a looping cross from Yuka Momiki took an unfortunate touch off Bronze and deflected into the back of the net. Our number 22 almost cancelled out the own goal with a bullet header seven minutes before the break, but an impressive stop saw Everton goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan tip the attempt over the bar.

Battling hard

After another tight opening to the second half, Bompastor made a double substitution after 55 minutes, introducing Nusken and Thompson for Baltimore and Kaptein.

The clock ticked towards 70 and, other than a series of corners, the Blues were yet to put any real pressure on a resolute Everton defence.

When the Blues were awarded a free-kick for a late challenge on Carpenter, McCabe took it short to Thompson just outside her, and the American laid the ball off to Walsh. The midfielder bent in a curling shot, but Brosnan was able to collect.

That was the only real danger we caused in the second half as the statistics showed we fired 21 shots on goal but ended the match with only three big chances created. It was a frustrating day, but we will look to regain top spot when we face leaders Manchester City next weekend in the WSL.

What it means...

We drop to second in the table, two points behind leaders Manchester City, following their 5-0 win over West Ham United earlier today.

What comes next...

We travel to Sweden to face Hacken in the Women's Champions League on Tuesday, with kick-off set for 5.45pm UK time. We will then back at Stamford Bridge for our top-of-the-table clash with Man City next Saturday. Tickets are still available and you can secure your place here.

The teams

Chelsea: Hampton, Carpenter, Bronze, Buchanan, McCabe, Cuthbert (c) (Beever-Jones 74), Walsh, Kaptein (Nusken 55), Baltimore (Thompson 55), Matsukubo (Potter HT), Malard (Dragoni 84)
Unused substitutes: Peng, Bjorn, Buurman, Hamano
Goalscorers: Baltimore 28

Everton: Brosnan (c), Blundell, Ishikawa, Layzell, Wheeler, Van Gool (Galli 90), Kitagawa, Cabot, Momki (Mouchon 84), Mace, Pacheco
Unused subs: Foster-Inman, Cain, Rantala, Finnigan, Kagaza-SilcockScorers: Bronze OG 32

Referee: Lisa Benn