Aston Villa 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur

Aston Villa were forced to settle for a 2-2 draw this afternoon after a dramatic encounter with Tottenham Hotspur at Villa Park.

A first-half penalty from Eveliina Summanen gave the visitors the lead at the break but goals from Adriana Leon and Rachel Daly in the game’s final quarter put Villa in the driving seat before Bethany England struck deep into stoppage time to rescue a point.

Reobert de Pauw made one change to his side that kicked-off the new season away to Chelsea last weekend as Kirsty Hanson came in to replace Lucy Staniforth. Miri Taylor was also named back amongst substitutes after missing the season opener through injury.

Daly thought she’d given Villa an early lead on the 7^th minute as she controlled a well-weighted pass from Jordan Nobbs inside the area before flicking it past Becky Spencer in goal, but the offside flag was raised.

The Villans continued their positive start to the fixture as Daly was involved again minutes later. Hanson found the forward inside the box with a low cross, but her first-time effort was met by Spencer.

However, Villa’s early dominance was in vain as it was Spurs that took the lead as Summanen smashed home the opener from the spot on the 23^rd minute after a dubious penalty call.

Hanson came close to netting the equaliser just before the half an hour mark as she picked up a loose pass inside the final third before skipping past two white shirts and striking from just inside the box, but her effort was saved.

Villa came out firing after the restart as they levlled up their fight for the equaliser.

Daly rose high inside the area on the 50^th minute but she could only nod a cross from Nobbs wide of goal.

Hanson broke into the Spurs half four minutes later before finding Kenza Dali with a pass. Dali then moved the ball out to the right and into the path of Chasity Grant but her adventurous shot from distance sailed over the target.

Substitute Leon quickly got involved in the action as she added a new bite to the Villa attack. The Canadian international slipped a superb pass through to Paula Tomas who carried the ball deep into the box before hitting a dangerous cross into the six-yard area. The defender’s ball wasn’t dealt with by Spurs and it eventually fell to Daly but she could only guide her header wide.

Villa finally got the equaliser they had been hunting for as Leon drew her side level on the 78^th minute. Nobbs lifted a great pass in Daly’s feet who released Leon down the left with a through ball and the forward took a touch before placing a neat shot into the bottom corner.

Lucy Staniforth was also introduced off the bench and came close to putting Villa ahead in style as she rifled a shot from 24 yards out towards goal, but Spencer got down to make the great save.

Rachel Daly’s work up top finally paid off on the 88^th minute as the prolific striker netted her first of the new campaign. Lucy Parker floated a brilliant pass through the Spurs half and into the box for Daly to leap up and safely see it into the back of the net.

However, Villa’s dominance was again undone as a quick break from Spurs in the game’s eighth minute of stoppage was finished off by Bethany England to force the side to settle for a point.