Sport Writer Daisy Griffin reports on a tight contest in tough conditions between Aston Villa Women and West Ham Women, with the three points ultimately going the way of the visitors
An overall stronger, more united team performance by West Ham United led to a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa Women away at The Banks’ Stadium on Sunday 6th February.
In rather miserable weather conditions, the two Barclays’ Women’s Super League teams, for the most part, battled in a fairly even match, with both sides seeing equal amounts of possession. However, with the two West Ham goals both coming early on in each half, this placed an increasingly frustrated Villa team on the backfoot throughout the match.
An early mistake in the 11th minute from Hannah Hampton in the Villa goal, who unsuccessfully palmed away a West Ham corner, followed by some scrappy defending, led to the opening goal, which was ultimately poked over the line by West Ham’s Abbey-Leigh Stringer. A slight lull in play proceeded which saw Villa struggle to create any convincing chances, despite dominating possession and working the ball into the West Ham box on a few occasions.
As the game approached half time, and weather conditions worsened, Villa won themselves a lifeline with a well worked move and cross into the box by Alisha Lehmann, who forced a foul from the West Ham defender Kate Longhurst. Awarded a penalty, Lehmann slotted the ball away confidently, keeping Villa in the game at a crucial moment.
Despite going into the second half even, another mistake from the hosts’ defence, forced by an aggressive West Ham press, saw the ball turned over and slotted through the keeper’s legs by Katerina Svitková. Ultimately, two mistakes from Villa, as well as a lack of finishing ability in their opponent’s box, as has been the case in many of their recent performances, led to a frustrating defeat and three points dropped.
Ultimately, two mistakes from Villa, as well as a lack of finishing ability in their opponent’s box….led to a frustrating defeat
Speaking to Redbrick Sport in her post-match press conference, Aston Villa Women Head Coach, Carla Ward, expressed her frustration saying, ‘No one can quite believe that we lost the game.’ She added that she was, ‘hugely disappointed’ with the result as the team ‘played some really good football.’ Despite her disappointment, Ward expressed the importance of learning and moving on from the defeat, with Villa set to face 10th placed Everton this Sunday.
Despite the score line, commendable performances by the likes of England International Jill Scott, on loan from Manchester City, must be noted. Scott was praised after the game by Ward, who mentioned her role as one of the key leaders in the team, being ‘brilliant on and off the pitch.’ However, despite her dominant midfield performance, creating multiple chances for her team, Villa were ultimately unsuccessful in converting any of them.
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