Aston Villa 2-1 Spurs

Aston Villa Women made a winning start to 2023 by beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 on Saturday afternoon.

Beth England scored her first goal in a Spurs shirt, but Kenza Dali and Rachel Daly struck back to complete the turnaround.

Villa held on to their slender lead for an hour and registered three big points.

Carla Ward handed starts to both Lucy Staniforth and Jordan Nobbs for the visit of Spurs.

The two came straight into the starting XI to form a midfield trio with Dali.

Meanwhile, Dan Turner captained the side and Laura Blindkilde Brown was deployed on the right wing.

It took Nobbs no time at all to register her first attempt on goal in a Villa shirt.

Kirsty Hanson broke down the left wing before finding our number 88 on the edge of the area.

Nobbs, however, saw her effort held by Tinja-Riike Korpela in the Spurs net.

Villa continued to probe throughout the opening stages but the visitors took the lead with their first meaningful attack.

England, signed from Chelsea earlier this month, met a cross from the left-hand side with a sweet volley to give Spurs the lead.

Villa showed character in getting straight back into the game as they equalized six minutes later.

Nobbs fed the ball through to Dali who found the bottom corner with aplomb from outside the area.

We weren’t content with equalizing, though, as we took the lead just a few moments afterwards.

Hanson was a constant threat down the left, and this time she pulled the ball back into the penalty area for Rachel Daly who side-footed the ball past Korpela.

Villa went into half-time with a one-goal lead and looked to build on that in the second period.

They did well to stifle the visitors for large spells and Ward made some timely introductions with the victory in sight.

Nobbs was withdrawn in place of Emily Gielnik, while Alisha Lehmann came on for Hanson.

McLoughlin was subbed on for Dali in the dying moments, and Villa saw out the remaining minutes to register a first win of the new year.