Reading Women 3-0 Aston Villa Women

Aston Villa Women were beaten 3-0 by Reading at the Select Car Leasing Stadium on Sunday.

First-half strikes from Amalie Eikeland, Rachel Rowe and Natasha Dowie put the game out of reach for Carla Ward’s side, who have now lost consecutive games for the first time this season.

Ward welcomed Sarah Mayling back from illness for the trip to Reading, after the full-back missed last weekend’s defeat to Arsenal at Villa Park.

One player who couldn’t recover in time was Emily Gielnik, who sustained a broken toe in the win over Brighton a fortnight ago.

This meant Shania Hayles was given the nod up front with Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah and Alisha Lehmann either side of her.

After a scrappy opening to proceedings, Reading opened the scoring in fortuitous circumstances.

Eikeland, who netted in last season’s corresponding fixture, broke down the right-hand side and found the inside of the far post from a cross.

Kelly Chambers’ side didn’t rest on their laurels, and quickly added to their lead when Rowe fired into the roof of the net from inside the penalty area.

Villa went in search of a lifeline before the interval, but Mayling’s inviting cross from deep just evaded the head of Ramona Petzelberger at the far post.

But it was the home side who would get the next goal which would prove to be a backbreaker from Villa’s perspective.

Dowie rifled in moments before the half-time whistle, following a mix-up at the back, to really put Ward’s side against the ropes.

To Villa’s credit, they wouldn’t lack endeavour during the second half as they found themselves penned inside Reading’s defensive third for much of the final period.

Gemma Davison, in particular, looked bright upon her introduction for the final half an hour.

Villa couldn’t pull a goal back, however, and have now suffered back-to-back league defeats for the first time since April.

Wednesday represents a good opportunity to bounce back as Ward and co. travel to Liverpool to begin their Conti Cup campaign against Matt Beard’s side.