Villa 0-1 Birmingham

Aston Villa Women fell to a 1-0 defeat in the Second City Derby on Sunday afternoon.

Veatriki Sarri's first-half cross-shot was the difference in a game that Villa dominated.

The final-day defeat is a disappointing end to a season of progress for Carla Ward's side.

Villa finish the season in ninth place, a one-place improvement from the previous campaign.

Ward made several changes to the lineup that lost to Arsenal last weekend.

Hannah Hampton, having missed the previous two encounters with concussion, replaced Sian Rogers in between the posts.

Ruesha Littlejohn also returned having shaken off an achilles problem.

Birmingham City provided an early scare for Villa, despite succumbing to relegation during the week.

Jade Pennock looked offside having been play through by Veatriki Sarri, but the flag stayed down and the former crashed an effort of the crossbar from just inside the area.

Villa created a chance of their own soon after.

Maz Pacheco floated a corner in from the right-hand side and Rachel Corsie met the delivery with a thumping header that went just over the bar.

But after surviving some early pressure from their cross-city rivals, Villa would surrender the first goal of the game.

Sarri, always a threat, produced what looked to be a cross from the left-hand side that snuck underneath Hannah Hampton’s crossbar and into the net.

Sarri continued to threaten down Villa’s right, and the fleet-footed winger put in another inviting cross a few minutes later that Corsie was able to deal with.

Ward’s side would grow back into the game afterwards and they almost drew level when Emily Gielnik was inches away from meeting Alisha Lehmann’s centre.

The Switzerland international was played through beautifully by Laura Blindkilde Brown and looked to put it on a plate for her forward partner, but Blues came to the rescue to clear.

Lehmann was involved once again, this time from the left, as she waltzed into the penalty area before cutting the ball back to Pacheco whose effort was blocked.

Despite Villa’s best efforts, they went into half-time behind by a goal and it didn’t take Ward long to make changes.

Barely 10 minutes of the second half had passed when the boss threw on Chloë Arthur and Shania Hayles in place of Emily Gielnik and Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah.

The home side continued to push and produced their closest effort after the hour-mark when Corsie crashed a close-range effort against the bar.

Ruesha Littlejohn then saw her attempt from much further out parried away by the visiting goalkeeper.

The final whistle blew and while the result will leave a sour taste in the mouths of Villa’s players and staff alike, clear progress has been made this season and has stood the club in good stead heading into 2022/23.