{"id":54759,"date":"2024-03-28T04:42:33","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T17:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/astonvilla.co.uk\/villa-women-lose-as-title-chasing-arsenal-put-on-a-late-show\/"},"modified":"2024-03-28T04:42:33","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T17:42:33","slug":"villa-women-lose-as-title-chasing-arsenal-put-on-a-late-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/astonvilla.co.uk\/villa-women-lose-as-title-chasing-arsenal-put-on-a-late-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Villa women lose as title-chasing Arsenal put on a late show"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Aston Villa Women returned to WSL action as they were hosts to Arsenal at Villa Park. It was the third time the two sides had met this season with the previous two encounters ending in wins for the Gunners. Carla Ward would have been hoping for a better performance after their recent heavy defeat in the Conti Cup Semi-Final.<\/p>\n
Ward was without a number of her first-team players after Daphne Van Domselaar was recently ruled out for the remainder of the season with a hip injury. Kirsty Hanson who had suffered a calf injury in the Conti Cup Semi-final joined duo Lucy Parker and Lucy Staniforth on the sidelines. There was a sickness bug going around the training group so there were worries about how many players would be fit for the encounter.<\/p>\n
The biggest surprise came when the starting line-up was announced as Captain Rachel Corse was dropped to the bench with Rachel Daly taking the armband. Anna Leat started in goal, with Anna Patten, Noelle Maritz and Dan Turner in defence with Sarah Mayling and Maz Pacheco starting in wing-back positions. Ward decided to start with the experienced Kenza Dali and Jordan Nobbs in the middle with a front 3 of Leon, Daly and Ebony Salmon. Simone Magill and Alisha Lehmann dropped to the bench for this game alongside loanee Miri Taylor, Corsie and the young Freya Gregory, Sophia Poor and Georgia Mullett.<\/p>\n
There was a 45-minute delay to the start of the game as the visitors had travel issues due to a crash on the motorway meaning they weren\u2019t able to get to Villa Park in time for a warm-up and to start the match at the originally scheduled 18:45. This is the second Arsenal game in a row where there has had to be a delay to the start of the game after their new kit man brought the wrong socks to Stamford Bridge, meaning there was a kit clash with both teams wearing white socks.<\/p>\n
The first half of the game went as expected with Arsenal dominating possession and creating many chances but none of their shots forced Leat into a save.<\/p>\n
The home side surprised Arsenal when they took the lead with a moment of magic against the run of play on 35 minutes. Leon was played down the line before cutting the ball back to the feet of Salmon who was able to slot home with what turned out to be Villa\u2019s only effort on goal all evening.<\/p>\n