Birmingham City 0-1 Aston Villa

Aston Villa Women won the Second City Derby on Sunday afternoon, beating Birmingham City 1-0 at St. Andrew’s.

Anita Asante climbed highest to head home the winning goal in the first half, as Villa themselves climbed to the 10-point mark in the WSL.

Villa were deserving of the victory, their first-ever in a top-flight derby.

Carla Ward made a single change from the side that lost to Chelsea last weekend.

The manager’s decision to revert to a back four meant that Elisha N’Dow missed out, with Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah coming back on the right side of a front three.

Marisa Ewers, fresh off returning to the side last weekend, registered the game’s first attempt but saw her long-range effort fly over the bar.

Alisha Lehmann was next to try her luck, but her prodded attempt from just a few yards out went narrowly wide following Maz Pacheco’s corner.

Villa wouldn’t waste many more chances, however.

After a period of sustained pressure, another corner was won and Sarah Mayling’s delivery to the back post was met emphatically by Asante.

The experienced defender powered the ball home to give Villa a deserved a lead at St. Andrew’s.

Villa went agonisingly close to doubling their lead when, after another set piece delivery, Remi Allen’s header was deflected towards goal.

It was looking like sneaking in before Marie Hourihan palmed the ball around her near post to keep her side in it.

Villa went into the break perhaps frustrated that they were only a goal to good.

They had very little opportunity to add to their lead in the second half, with the hosts growing into the game is it wore on.

There were one or two heart-in-mouth moments towards the full-time whistle, with players going to ground in the Villa area as well as Hannah Hampton almost letting a long free-kick slip through her grasp.

But Villa would see out five minutes of stoppage time with relative ease as they added three points to their tally for the campaign.