Aston Villa Women travelled to the Chigwell Construction Stadium in Dagenham to face West Ham United. Both sides have struggled so far this season, managing just one win each, struggling at the wrong end of the table. You could say it was a must-win already this early in the season.
Many Villa players formerly played for West Ham including fan favourites: Maz Pacheco, Kenza Dali Adriana Leon, and Rachel Daly who previously had a loan spell at the Hammers. Villa had a lot to prove in this game.
For the first time this season Carla Ward opted to start the same 11 as the team that won last weekend at Bristol City. Villa were looking for their third consecutive away win in a week against a team who have failed to win at home in over a year. This wasn’t going to be an easy game for either side.
Report: West Ham Women 2-3 Aston Villa Women
The first 15 minutes were sloppy for the visitors, they seemed to be giving the ball very cheaply and inviting pressure on the defence with West Ham looking more likely to score following their positive start.
Villa did have moments but lacked with the final ball as we have witnessed a few times already this season. Sarah Mayling picked herself up a yellow card after 21 minutes following a later challenge on midfielder Emma Harries.
The visitors did come close shortly after but Dan Turner could only direct her headed effort to the wrong side of the post after getting on the end of a Kenza Dali corner.
It was the home side who made the breakthrough though after 26 minutes when they were awarded a penalty kick. Kirsty Smith went down in the box following a later challenge from Leon and forward Vivianne Asseyi sent Van Domselaar the wrong way from the spot making it 1-0.
The Hammers began to time waste at every opportunity but it didn’t take long before the visitors were back on level terms.
Daly was able to knock on a Dali corner from the left-hand side finding Anna Patten who was able to head home. This was Patten’s first WSL goal of her career and 2nd goal for Villa after scoring in the 11-0 Conti Cup victory over Fylde last season.
Villa grew in confidence creating more chances with MacKenzie Arnold forced into action in the West Ham goal. Just after the half-hour mark, Ward’s side had a goal ruled to be offside when Blinkilde Brown picked out Leon who slotted home.
The visitors continued to dominate but went in level at half-time. Ward utilised her bench at the start of the second half when Jordan Nobbs replaced young Lioness Blinkilde Brown.
It didn’t take long for Villa to take the lead for the time in the game. Villa were awarded a free-kick when Meg Fillis was booked for bringing down Dali. Dali picked out Patten from the resulting free-kick and a poor clearance from West Ham fell to Leon who was able to slot the ball into the top right-hand corner.
West Ham then upped their game with chances from Asseyi and Abbey-Leigh Stringer but the Villa backline was equal to their efforts.
Both benches opted to make changes with twenty minutes left on the clock. Ebony Salmon replaced Hanson for the visitors while the home side introduced Lisa Evans for Emma Harries. I was quite surprised that Evans didn’t start for the home side as she is one of their more successful attacking players.
With 10 minutes left on the clock, the Hammers managed to pull the game level. A poor clearance from a corner fell to Asseyi, she laid off Evans who was able to fire her shot into the back of the net.
As with the pattern of the game, it was Villa’s turn to push forward once again in search of a winner. Alisha Lehmann was introduced for Leon who looked to be tiring.
Villa continued to push and it looked almost certain that the visitors would regain the lead and it came in the second minute of added time. Daly was able to pick out captain Rachel Corsie. The midfielder crossed the ball and found the head of Pacheco who nodded the ball down for Daly to score on the volley to make it 2-3.
Analysis
The win pushes Villa up to 9th in the Women’s Super League ahead of West Ham, Everton and league newcomers Bristol City.
This was a very positive performance with Daly and Leon once again showing their quality and Patten and Pacheco also having good games in defence.
These performances are starting to look more like the Villa we became used to after last season, and we can only hope it can continue so we can climb the table.
Ward may look to utilise her squad in the coming week with two games in a week. Next up for the ladies is a home game against Everton next weekend at Villa Park.
