Leicester City 0-2 Aston Villa

Aston Villa Women beat Leicester City 2-0 at the King Power Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Rachel Daly and Emily Gielnik scored either side of half-time to maintain Villa’s winning start to the season.

Daly’s early penalty edge Villa in front before the game became a scrappy one.

Gielnik sealed the points three minutes from time.

Carla Ward named an unchanged side, unsurprisingly, following last weekend’s thrilling victory over Manchester City.

The sole alteration to that matchday squad was the omission of Mary McAteer who has joined Coventry United on a dual-registration basis.

Villa started the game in the kind of mood you would expect and took the lead after just three minutes.

Kirsty Hanson bombed forward and was tripped inside the area, leaving Daly with the task of tucking the ensuing kick away.

Daly obliged to give Ward’s side the early lead.

The hosts soon asserted some pressure on the Villa goal, however.

Shannon O’Brien convinced the crowd that she had found the net when a long-range effort whistled wide of the post.

The action became scrappy as the first half wore on, with neither side establishing possession.

Alisha Lehmann did register an effort on target after the half-hour mark, but it didn’t seriously trouble Kirstie Levell in the Foxes goal.

Sam Tierney saw a speculative strike held by Hannah Hampton, as Villa went into the break with a slender lead.

Freya Gregory, who spent the second half of last season at Leicester, came on in place of Lehmann at the interval.

It was a fellow left-footer who came close to scoring Villa’s second, as Dan Turner saw a free-kick from the right-hand side tipped onto the crossbar by Levell.

Gielnik was then brought on as Ward sensed an opportunity to seal the game, but it was Gregory who was next to register an attempt on target.

The winger’s powerful strike from a tight angle was held by Levell.

Gielnik’s turn and time would arrive before full-time, though.

Kenza Dali played an impressive reverse pass to slip in the Australian who made no mistake in slotting the ball into the bottom corner to seal the points.