Aston Villa Women 1-2 Sheffield United Women

Aston Villa Women lost 2-1 to Sheffield United in the Conti Cup on Wednesday evening.

In a night where Carla Ward rang the changes and handed debuts to five youngsters, Villa can count themselves unlucky not to have come away with more.

Early goals from Kasia Lipka and Courtney Sweetman-Kirk put the Blades into the ascendency, before Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah cut the deficit to one in the second half.

Villa’s young lions put plenty of pressure on their opponents for the remainder, but just couldn’t find a second.

At the beginning of the night, Villa made as lively a start as the youth in their lineup may have suggested. Freya Gregory broke into the area inside the first five minutes and almost manufactured a shooting chance between herself and Ruesha Littlejohn. The former, though, found herself in an offside position when a chance looked likely.

Shania Hayles was next to get within shooting range but saw her scuffed attempt trickle wide after some good play down the right from Gemma Davison.

The visitors would take the lead soon after, though. Lipka swept the ball home following a neat lay-off from Sweetman-Kirk.

United’s lead was doubled ten minutes later.

Jodie Hutton, facing her own goal, made a rash attempt to win the ball while sliding and gave the referee an easy decision to make.

Sweetman-Kirk, having assisted the first, scored the second without hesitation.

The youthful Villa side were rattled but in no way disheartened by the two-goal deficit they found themselves facing.

If anything, several players grew into the tie from there on in.

Laura Blindkilde Brown, particularly bright, drove into the area from the right and forced a low save from Fran Kitching.

Villa went into the break having competed right up until half-time, and once they got the second period underway, they were well and truly back in the tie.

Boye-Hlorkah, fresh from the substitutes’ bench, notched her first in claret & blue after poking home on the goal-line.

The visitors imposed themselves on the game once again following the Villa lifeline, and it was through the Blades’ pressure that an unfortunate injury was suffered.

Sian Rogers, bravely thwarting Sweetman-Kirk from point-blank range, took a blow to the head and had to withdraw.

Villa went in search of a late equaliser, throwing on three more debutants in the process.

Izzy and Deearna Goodwin were both full of running in chasing down United’s backline, while Mary McAteer also made her first-team bow in stoppage time.

That elusive leveller would prove just out of reach though, as the visitors took home the three points.

It would turn out to be, however, a night of many positives.