Manchester City hit the summit of the Barclays Women’s Super League table with a win over Aston Villa, though they once again needed a comeback to secure the points.
City, unbeaten so far, hosted a winless Aston Villa at the Joie Stadium and initially dominated – but Gabi Nunes’ opener on the break sent them into halftime trailing.
The hosts looked uncharacteristically slow and it looked for a while as though a shock was on the cards – until Lauren Hemp’s brilliant flicked finish levelled the scores after one hour and Jill Roord poked home to give them the lead eight minutes later.
As it happened
The linkup between Kerstin Casparij and Mary Fowler on the right immediately showed promise, with Khadija Shaw trying to burst through onto a resulting through ball from that side in the first two minute – but it was overhit and collected by Sabrina D’Angelo. The striker looked lively, winning the ball in the middle of the park and making driving runs onto Villa’s back line; from one throw in, she found herself with enough space to take the game’s first shot at goal in the ninth minute. It was powerful but lacked accuracy and drifted out of play.
City looked more and more menacing as the opening minutes ticked by, with Fowler’s footwork giving Dan Turner cause for concern on the right and Jess Park pulling off a nutmeg on the opposite side of the box minutes later. The hosts were dominating possession and increasingly in the Villa half, and a goal seemed likelier by the minute. A beautifully fluid move between Shaw, Fowler, Casparij, and Park drew applause from the home fans but none could pull off a shot. Shaw had her first attempt on target a minute later with a header from Jill Roord’s cross, but D’Angelo caught it with relative ease.
Against the run of play, it was the visitors who drew first blood . Hanson got the better of Casparij on the left, sending her cross in from right on the byline, and Gabi Nunes got the right side of Laia Aleixandri to flick the ball past Ayaka Yamashita and into the far side netting. Villa’s travelling contingent in the southwest corner of the stadium were ecstatic, while City – despite their early dominance – found themselves behind for the third time this season.
Embed from Getty ImagesVilla will have been well aware, though, that a lead against Gareth Taylor’s side rarely lasts. In fact, they looked to level minutes later when Hemp timed her run perfectly to latch onto a long goalkick – though she was ahead of the entire Villa back line, D’Angelo’s courage to come out and smother her effort paid dividends to keep the Villans in the lead. Both teams’ wingers switched sides in an attempt to revamp their attacks, but Villa’s line was holding well against a City side who clearly hadn’t expected to find themselves trailing. Jill Roord passed up a golden opportunity to equalise just after the half-hour mark; Hemp’s cross fell plum in front of her one-on-one with D’Angelo, but she couldn’t keep her shot down and instead ended up flat on her back with her hands on her head. Hemp tried to curl a shot of her own towards the bottom left corner from across the box, but D’Angelo was again equal to it.
The home crowd grew impatient in the last ten minutes of the half, with City lacking their usual fluidity and pace – their confidence perhaps dented by conceding on the break. The game had a much more subdued feel, broken up by a few fouls from Villa that stunted City’s attempts to attack. D’Angelo was called into action again in stoppage time, when Roord got on the end of a neat one-two move between Hemp and Yui Hasegawa – the keeper dived left to save her effort, which admittedly lacked power. Right on the whistle she collected the ball again when an attempt to find Shaw at the top was overhit, and at the break Villa’s defensive solidarity and City’s missed chances left the visitors with a surprise lead.
Embed from Getty ImagesHalftime saw the driving drizzle abate, much to the relief of everyone in the ground, but the game continued much as the first half had ended. Roord had a header collected by D’Angelo after 50 minutes and Park continued to impress on the edge of the box, looking City’s liveliest player; her cross in the 52nd minute zipped right across the six-yard box and would have needed only a touch from a teammate to level the scores. Instead it was deflected out for a corner which the Cityzens couldn’t make anything of. Another three City corners came across the first fifteen minutes of the half – but Villa’s defensive organisation stopped them converting anything of their opportunities, the closest call being Rachel Daley heading the ball away off the goalline, and the crowd’s frustration at the pace of play continued (both towards what they considered timewasting by their opponents, and at their own side’s apparent lack of urgency). With half an hour remaining, City were heading for their first loss – and Villa their first win – of the season. Who would produce a much-needed goal?
Lauren Hemp, of course, with one of her most stylish finishes of the season so far. Ouahabi floated in a cross that D’Angelo did well to claw away, but unfortunately for her she sent it straight into the Lioness’ path. With her back to goal, Hemp somehow still spied the opportunity to catch the keeper off her line and lashed the airborne ball back over her shoulder with her left foot. Villa were unlucky to lose their lead to such a superb finish – but nobody could say it was too unexpected.
Embed from Getty ImagesChanges soon followed for Robert de Pauw, who had half an hour to salvage all three points – and to ensure they held onto at least one. The goalscorer Nunes made way for Ebony Salmon, and Kirsty Hanson was replaced by Chasity Grant. It did little to swing the momentum, though, and City’s pace and fluidity seemed to have returned. Unfortunately for Villa, they looked like completing yet another comeback – and managed their turnaround this time in less than ten minutes.
With 70 minutes on the clock, Hemp’s run into the area from the left beat Noelle Maritz and Jordan Nobbs before she spotted Roord unmarked just outside the six-yard box.After her earlier missed opportunities, the Dutchwoman made no mistake this time – from Hemp’s layoff she fired an unobstructed shot home into the far corner. With twenty minutes left on the clock, City had finally found their flow and what had looked like an opportunity for Villa to pick up some points was beginning to look more like a case of damage limitation.
Embed from Getty ImagesDe Pauw looked to refresh his side, replacing Robinson and Nobbs with Kenza Dali and Miri Taylor, but it was too little and too late – the Villans struggled to create clear-cut chances and lacked a route back into the game. Gareth Taylor made his first changes of the game with ten minutes to go, resting Park for Aoba Fujino – the former receiving thunderous applause from the home crowd for a game where, though missing from the scoresheet, the youngster had been incredibly influential.
With five minutes to go, Villa had a final chance to salvage a point from Missy Bo Kearns’ corner – but her delivery lacked height and was easily blocked by Hasegawa. An equaliser seemed unlikely and Robert de Pauw was running out of firepower to bring on, with his last substitute instead in the back line to give Sarah Mayland a run out in place of Maritz. The visitors had a few late half-chances with Rachel Daly once breaking towards the box but eventually impeded, and Chasity Grant also appearing sharp on the ball. Mayland came closest to an equaliser in the 94th minute, when D’Angelo launched a freekick from Villa’s own half all the way into City’s box – but the defender at full stretch came just short of the ball.
2-1 was a disappointing result in what had for so long been an impressive defensive display from Villa, whose wait for a win goes on. City, meanwhile, continue their unbeaten start to the season – though yet another performance where a comeback was needed shows that Gareth Taylor’s team still have areas to improve if they are to take the WSL title from Chelsea.
The lineups
MCI: Yamashita; Aleixandri, Greenwood, Ouahabi, Casparij; Roord, Park, Hasegawa; Hemp, Shaw, Fowler
AVL: D’Angelo; Maritz, Parker, Patten, Turner; Nobbs, Kearns, Robinson; Hanson, Daly, Nunes