Fixtures
- Aston Villa Women Vs. Charlton Athletic Women – Wed, Dec 11th 2024, 19:15
Aston Villa Women returned to winning ways this evening as they came from behind to defeat Charlton Athletic 4-1 in the League Cup.
Braces from Rachel Daly and Ebony Salmon sealed the victory at the Bescot Stadium after Charlotte Newsham opened the scoring for Charlton early on.
Despite the win results elsewhere saw the Villans bow out of the competition in the group stage as they finished second in Group E, three points behind Tottenham Hotspur.
Noelle Maritz, Miri Taylor, Katie Robinson and Gabi Nunes all came into the starting 11 this evening as four changes was made to the side following Sunday’s defeat away to Arsenal.
Lucy Staniforth came marginally close to giving Villa an early lead as she blasted a free-kick from out wide towards the far top left-hand corner but the powerful effort was diverted over the bar.
Villa continued to look the better side in the opening stages of the contest, but it was Charlton Athletic who took the lead on the 10th minute as Newsham pounced on a close range shot after Villa failed to clear the ball.
The Villans instantly went on the hunt for the equaliser and came close through Katie Robinson only six minutes later. The pacey winger travelled through the away side’s half before drilling a shot on goal from just inside the area, but Jess Grey got down to collect.
Former Villan Jodie Hutton called Sabrina D’Angelo into action on the 24th minute as her fierce cross turned shot looked to be sneaking into the far top corner of goal but the keeper got up to safely push it over the bar.
Daly levelled the scoring only a minute later as she netted her fifth goal of the season. A cross from Maritz found Daly inside the six-yard box who coolly nodded an effort into the back of the net.
Nunes was denied by Gray just before the half an hour mark as she pulled off a terrific save to push the Brazilian’s header around the post.
Salmon put Villa in control of the contest on the 32nd minute as she made it 2-1 with a spectacular goal. The forward collected a pass from Paula Tomàs and found some space inside the box before thundering a shot into the far corner of goal.
The second-half picked up from where it left off as Salmon extended her side’s lead with another brilliant strike on the 47nd minute. She danced through the box with the ball before curling a shot around the keeper and into the bottom corner.
Substitute Adriana Leon thought she had joined in on the goal scoring action as she poked the ball home moments after coming on, but the offside flag was raised on the forward.
Kenza Dali, who also came off the bench, also made an instant impact and she looked to make things happen in the final third.
The France midfielder tried her luck from distance twice but both times her efforts were collected by the keeper.
Salmon came close to securing her hattrick on the 73rd minute as she was picked out by Jordan Nobbs on the left, but her first-time low shot was palmed around the post.
Daly wrapped up the scoring and bagged herself another goal five minutes from time as she easily tapped the ball home from only six yards out after an effort from Taylor bounced against the post and fell kindly to the captain’s feet.
