Aston Villa returned to Villa Park for our penultimate home game of the season to face West Ham. 11 days after the defeat to Chelsea, which featured Anna Leat’s early red card,
Carla Ward’s side look to end the season on a high. West Ham have a significant gap ahead of bottom-placed Bristol City, but with the opportunity to confirm their league safety, Villa could expect another challenge.
17 year old Sophia Poor made her full debut in goal, after her surprise performance last week. Leat faces a one game suspension, so Villa were without a goalkeeper on the bench. Rachel Corsie also faced a ban due to yellow cards, so Rachel Daly captained the side. Leon and Hanson were the preferred attackers to join her.
Head of WSL Content: Georgia Homer
The first real chance of the game fell to West Ham’s Riko Ueki in the centre of the box. The Japan striker connected with a cross from Jess Ziu, but Sophia Poor stopped the shot from close range. Asseyi and Ziu also had attempts blocked, and Ueki came close with a header that was just too high.
Villa took time to grow into the game, but in the 36th minute a good chance came for Rachel Daly. Jordan Nobbs threaded a ball through the West Ham defence to send Daly through the middle of the box, but her shot was too close to Mackenzie Arnold. Adriana Leon also forced a save minutes before half time, but it was a largely flat 45 from Villa.
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Both teams came out in the second half looking for the win, but it was Villa who looked the more threatening. Asseyi narrowly missed with a header for the visitors, who were otherwise kept quiet. Rachel Daly and Dan Turner both tried to open the score with headers, but their shots were off target and blocked. Turner had another chance with her left foot, and Kenza Dali with a free-kick, but both were saved.
The game changed with the introduction of Alisha Lehmann in the 69th minute, who took the place of Adriana Leon. Kirsty Hanson squeezed her way through trouble down the left touchline, before playing in the cross for Alisha Lehmann to chase and flick past defender and goalkeeper into the right corner.
Villa kept up the pressure following the goal, but were unable to double their lead. Patten and Lehmann were both off-target, and the team were unable to make anything of several corners. Approaching the final ten minutes, West Ham’s attack intensified.
Shannon Cooke and Viviane Asseyi both had chances blocked before finally, Cooke found the equaliser for West Ham in the 95th minute. Her first goal for the club, Cooke’s late header won the Hammers a point and confirmed their WSL status for next season.
It was another last minute goal conceded for Villa, who have struggled to manage games this season – in part, due to the significant losses of Lucy Parker and Lucy Staniforth in midfield. Two games remain, against Brighton and Manchester City.
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AUTHOR | GEORGIA HOMER
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Author’s UTV PODCAST archive Georgia Homer
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