An incredible second-half fightback was not enough to see us claim anything from our Barclays Women's Super League clash with Aston Villa on Sunday as the Villans edged us 3-2.
In a tight clash at Brisbane Road, the visitors opened the scoring just before the half-hour mark as Anna Patten reacted quickest to head in after Rachel Daly's header had crashed off the bar. They then doubled their advantage 11 minutes after the restart as Daly's prowess in the air continued to cause us issues with her flick on releasing Ebony Salmon to fire home.
However, in the space of five second-half minutes, we fought back to get ourselves back on terms. Firstly, on 65 minutes, Jess Naz capitalised on a goalmouth scramble to halve the deficit, firing in from close range, before Ella Morris got us level with her first goal for the Club and in the WSL as she rounded the goalkeeper before stroking home.
In the ascendancy with the momentum of the two goals, we looked the most likely of the two sides to go on to snatch all three points but, in the end, it was Villa who made the most of their opportunities with Kirsty Hanson powering through on break before picking her spot and guiding in to secure the win for the visitors.
Lize Kop reacted the quickest to claim a low cross from the feet of Rachel Daly before she got down to her left to collect Missy Bo Kearns’ drilled effort as the visitors started the game well in the capital. Lucy Staniforth then sliced her shot wide of the post as Villa maintained their strong start, and their pressure finally prevailed on the half-hour mark. Daly rose the highest from Staniforth’s free-kick as her header crashed against the top of the crossbar but, with the ball looping in the air, Patten was on hand to head home on the line.
Our best opportunities of the first period came in the closing stages, but we struggled to break down a stubborn Villa backline as Olivia Holdt, Maite Oroz and Morris all saw efforts superbly blocked inside the box before Holdt found Drew Spence inside the right area of the box but, once again, the midfielder was denied by Lucy Parker at full-stretch to keep their lead in tact at the break.
Naz fired an effort straight into the hands of D’Angelo as we pushed for a response after the break but, just 11 minutes into the second period, Villa doubled their advantage as Daly flicked Parker’s long ball into the path of Salmon, she charged into the box before slotting past Kop. We made a double change just after the hour mark as Bethany England marked her return from injury with Matilda Vinberg also entering the pitch and, three minutes later, we pulled a goal back. D’Angelo was called into action to push Naz’s low shot around the post and, from the following corner, Morris kept the move alive as her header back into the six-yard box caused a scramble and Naz was there to fire home from close range.
Then, five minutes later, we were back on level terms. A superb long ball forward from Eveliina Summanen set Morris on her way on the right, she showed complete calmness to round the on-rushing D’Angelo before stroking the ball into the empty net, completing a fantastic comeback in a five-minute spell and a milestone moment for the defender. Following a pulsating few minutes at Brisbane Road, the momentum swung in our favour and the closest we came was when substitute Vinberg sent a looping header that landed on top of the netting.
However, as we entered the first minute of stoppage time, it was Villa who grabbed the late winner in the contest. Substitute Hanson received the ball from Grant and powered her way into the box before firing past Kop to snatch the three points in the capital and leave us without a win in seven WSL games.
In terms of team news, Robert Vilahamn made one change as Ashleigh Neville replaced Amanda Nilden in the starting XI, while Rosella Ayane came off the bench in the second half to make her 100th WSL appearance.