Manchester City 2-1 Aston Villa

Aston Villa were narrowly beaten 2-1 away from home by Manchester City this afternoon.

Gabi Nunes’ first Villa goal gave the side the lead at the break but they were undone in the second-half as goals from Lauren Hemp and Jill Roord stole the win.

Robert de Pauw made one change to his side that drew 0-0 with Leicester City last weekend as Katie Robinson came in for Chasity Grant.

Manchester City enjoyed the majority of possession inside the opening quarter and Khadija Shaw lined up two early efforts in front of goal.

Her first, from outside the box, flew just wide of the target before her second, a header, was caught by Sabrina D’Angelo.

Villa soaked up the pressure well and punished City with a quick break on the 20^th minute. Kirsty Hanson received the ball inside the home side’s half and charged with it down the left hand side and into the box, beating her marker along the way, before finding Nunes inside the area with a cross. The Brazilian neatly flicked the ball past Ayaka Yamashita to put the Villans ahead.

D’Angelo denied Hemp the equaliser five minutes later as she was off her line to block the forward’s shot after she broke past the defence and into the box.

The Villa shot stopper denied the England international again just before the break as she got down to save her curling strike.

Hemp finally broke down the Villa backline and D’Angelo 17 minutes into the second-half. Villa were unable to safely deal with Leila Ouahabi’s cross and Hemp was at the back post to volley it into the back of the net.

Jill Roord then put the home side ahead on the 70^th minute mark as she controlled a cross from Hemp before blasting it past D’Angelo.

After a disappointing first 25 minutes to the second-half, Villa switched back on and found new urgency to go on and get something from the game.

Miri Taylor found Ebony Salmon on the edge of the box with a short pass but the forward’s resulting shot lacked firepower and was collected by Yamashita deep into stoppage time.