Following a slow start the Aston Villa Women were looking for their fifth win in a row in all competitions, and third in the Women’s Super League. Everton were the visitors to Villa Park and both sides would have looked at the game as a winnable game. Both sides are struggling at the wrong end of the table and would like to start moving away from the relegation place.
As we have got used to this season, Carla Ward once again opted to make changes from the wide that beat Blackburn in the Conti Cup mid-week.
Dutch international Daphne Van Domselaar returned in goal, with in-form Adriana Leon, Kirsty Hanson and Rachel Daly returning into the starting 11. Jordan Nobbs, Kenzia Dali and Captain Rachel Corsie were also handed starts. Goalscorers from mid-week Ebony Salmon, Alisha Lehman and youngsters Georgia Mullet and Laura Blindkilde Brown all dropped to the bench.
The game got off to a slow start with any chances being comfortably handled by the goalkeepers in both nets. Everton looked solid defensively as Villa once again struggled to break down the opposition.
Although Villa probably edged the first half, Irish goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan, in the Everton goal, was a match for anything that came her way.
The second half began the same way the first finished, with both sides cancelling each other out with no real chances of note.
Six minutes before the hour mark the visitors broke the deadlock. Heather Payne’s cross missed everyone in the box, with Nicolene Sorenson firing the ball back across goal. Van Domselaar left the ball as it appeared she had a call from her defence but the ball bounced off the stomach of Anna Patten and into the net making it 0-1.
Villa bounced back immediately and the game was once again level just a minute later. Hanson picked out Daly who was able to fire past Brosnan into the bottom left-hand corner. The goal was Daly’s fourth in the WSL and ninth in all competitions so far this campaign.
Everton appeared to then try and waste time as they looked to be playing for a draw. This frustrated those in attendance with fans calling for bookings for the away sides antics.
The home crowd became more frustrated with 17 minutes left on the clock when Everton winger Payne went down in the box after losing the ball to Hanson. A penalty was awarded and Natalie Bjorn stepped up and sent Van Domselaar the wrong way making it 1-2 against the run of play.
Villa looked to get themselves back in the game with Brosnan being forced into save after save. The away side sat deep and was able to hold on to what I believe to be an underserved win.
As I previously mentioned, I felt that Villa shouldn’t have lost this game. Granted neither side was great in front of the goal but I felt we just edged it.
This is now Villa’s 6th defeat in the WSL this season which is very worrying in such a short spaced of time. The fixtures are coming thick and fast and with rotation playing a heavy part, I am unsure if Villa are able to find a good balance.
We now have an international break and Villa sit 10th in the table on 6 points, with only West Ham and Bristol below them. Villa can now use this time to rest and reset ready to continue in the season and hopefully begin to push forward and climb the table to where they should be and be challenging for the higher positions.
