By Aston Villa FC

Aston Villa Women lost 2-1 to Tottenham Hotspur at the Banks’s Stadium on Sunday night.

Kyah Simon and Rachel Williams overturned a first-half deficit for the visitors after Remi Allen opened the scoring early on.

The result keeps Villa in 10th place, and they remain 10 points above bottom-placed Leicester City.

Carla Ward handed Emily Gielnik her first league start since September with the Australian forward having recently returned from a broken toe.

Ruesha Littlejohn also retained her starting berth from last weekend’s Conti Cup win over Sunderland.

The first big chance of the game went to the visitors, with Rachel Williams dinking her effort just wide of the post having found herself one-on-one with Hannah Hampton.

Villa marched straight up the other end and had a decent chance themselves when Gielnik fired an effort just past the far post from a tight angle.

The next big chance would be converted, though.

48%

Possession

53%
5

Shots

7
2

Shots On Target

5
1

Corners

2
11

Fouls

13

2

0

Cards

2

0

Villa ventured forward down the left-hand side with Alisha Lehmann, and the Swiss winger’s low cross was expertly turned in by Remi Allen.

Spurs responded after just 10 minutes of going behind when Kyah Simon squeezed a penalty beyond the reach of Hampton.

The two sides went into the break level at 1-1, a fair reflection on the opening 45 minutes.

However, it would be Rehanne Skinner’s side who would edge in front after the interval.

Despite Villa’s increasingly determined display, it was a sucker-punch on the counter from Williams that gave Ward and co. work to do.

Villa were initially startled by falling behind with a little over 20 minutes remaining but regrouped in search of a late leveler.

They thought they had done just that when a goalmouth scramble involving Gielnik looked to have carried the ball over the line, but both the referee and lineswoman were non-plussed as they waved play on.

Villa will be looking to bounce back immediately following a run of one league win in five. A final group fixture in the Conti Cup awaits on Wednesday before a trip to Manchester United on Sunday.

A Villa Women: Hampton, Mayling, Sargeant, Asante, Pacheco, Littlejohn (Ewers 89'), Allen, Arthur (Blindkilde-Browne 74'), Boye-Hlorkah (Hayles 89'), Lehmann, Gielnik (Gregory 83')

Subs: N'Dow, McLoughlin, Rogers, Blindkilde-Browne, Hutton, Ewers, Hayles, Davison, Gregory

Tottenham Hotspur Women: Korpela, Bartrip, Neville, Harrop, Zadorsky, Cho So-Hyun, Simon (Ayane 91'), Naz, Clemaron (Addison 73'), Percival, Williams

Subs: Heeps, Ayane, Ale, Green, Spencer, Addison, Ubogagu, Tang Jiali, Morgan

Advert Advert