Ebony Salmon’s late goal erupted the Trinity Road stand in cheers and helped to secure Aston Villa women a 3-2 win against Crystal Palace. Sunday’s result marked Villa’s first win of the WSL season. It ended their run of three losses and two draws in their last five games.

Today’s fixture was the first time the teams had faced each other in the league – with this being Palace’s debut season in the WSL. However, they did meet in early October, where Villa won 2-0 in the Conti Cup.

The action

Cato’s first goal of the season for Palace opened the scoreline in the thirtieth minute – with Millie Gejl providing the assist.

Despite going a goal down, Villa remained unrelenting in their pressing. In the 40^th minute, Gabi Nunes’ header was received by Anna Patten, and she slotted the ball past Shae Yañez to make the game 1-1.

Aimee Everett sustained a head injury in the first half and went down for several minutes whilst medics attended to her. Subsequently, 7 minutes of added time were given.

Villa were able capitalise on this, as they headed into half-time in the winning position. Rachel Daly received a neat pass from Kirsty Hanson and scored her fourth goal this season.

The second half

Deep in the second half, a volley from Annabel Blanchard brought the game back to a draw in the 86^th minute after she received the ball from Ashleigh Weerden’s cross. While not against the run of play, as Villa had been a lot less threatening in the second half, the equaliser did send shockwaves across the stadium.

Villa were close to scoring their third goal of the game after Yañez fumbled the ball in front of the box. But the hosts were unsuccessful in capitalising on the error. However, Villa found fortune as Ebony Salmon entered the pitch after Robert De Pauw’s triple-player substitution in the 87^th minute.

Salmon, who spent her early years in the Villa academy, got onto the end of a ball from Paula Tomas and scored a 94^th minute winner. This last-gasp goal was received with an eruption of celebration among the Villa fans and players alike.

The managers’ thoughts

In his post-match press conference, Villa manager Robert de Pauw expressed relief and pride after his team picked up their long-awaited first win of the league season. In analysing his opponents, de Pauw explained how their performance “showed why the league is so competitive.”

He also emphasised how his team “should have killed them off earlier, we had three chances in the first ten minutes.” By forcing Villa until the final minute of the game to secure the winner, Palace showed the strength of the league.

De Pauw highlighted the performance of substitute and match-winner Ebony Salmon. He praised her for her patience this season, stating that “she rewarded herself and especially she rewarded the fans and her team.”

Crystal Palace Manager Laura Kaminski also spoke after the game. She expressed feelings of pride and frustration among her staff and players. She said, “we are obviously frustrated and disappointed to let it go in the final seconds… we know we need to manage those moments in the game better.”

She highlighted that “we did so well to take a top side, we rode a big patch of possession loss… I thought we deserved to maybe get something over the line.”

Kaminski also emphasised the end-to-end nature of the game, saying that “the game could have swung either way and it was the team that was going to stick it, and we did that but unfortunately we were two minutes short.”

Villa will hope to not fall back into their previous run of losses and draws as upcoming fixtures include tough opponents such as Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Manchester City.

Following his teams victory, de Pauw explained how he was going to use the experience to build momentum.

He spoke of how Arsenal (Villa’s next WSL opponents) “is a very good team, so we have to be focused for them and learn from the little things – in finishing, in defending, we really have to improve.” This came after his side recorded twenty-two shots but were wasteful with these opportunities.

What does this result mean?

The result meant Villa climbed the table from 11^th to 8^th and Palace dropped to 12^th. With tough fixtures ahead for both teams, today provided many lessons. Aston Villa and Crystal Palace both have more work to do to secure safety this season.

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