Fixtures
- Brighton and Hove Albion Women Vs. Aston Villa Women – Sat, Oct 5th 2024, 12:30
Aston Villa suffered a bitter 4-2 defeat away to Brighton & Hove Albion in the Women’s Super League this afternoon.
Goals from Rachel Daly either side of the break wasn’t enough to secure Villa any points for their efforts as strikes from Nikita Parris, Pauline Bremer, Fran Kirby and Michelle Agyemang for the home side sealed the win.
Paula Tomàs and Poppy Pattinson also both saw red in a controversial encounter on the south coast.
Robert de Pauw named an unchanged side from their last league outing last Sunday. The start handed Jordan Nobbs her 193rd Women’s Super League appearance as she become the new all-time league appearance maker.
Daly got the game up and running on the 13th minute as she gave Villa an early lead. Kirsty Hanson glided through the Brighton box before finding Daly at the near post who prodded the ball home with ease.
However, Villa’s lead didn’t last long as Parris levelled the score only two minutes later with a close-range finish after getting on the end of a Pattinson cross.
Missy Bo Kearns rolled a pass through to Tomàs on the 35th minute but her shot from inside the box flew over the target.
Bremer put the hosts in front three minutes later after a pass sliced through the Villa defence and into the forward’s feet for her to float a shot over Sabrina D’Angelo.
Hanson attempted to pull Villa back level just before the break as she found some space just inside the box before pulling a trigger on a shot, but her effort was well saved.
Villa came out with a new sense of urgency after the break as they looked to secure something from the game and were awarded an opportunity to do so on the 54th minute. Anna Patten was hacked down inside the box following some great footwork and Daly stepped up to coolly rifle the ball home to net her 100th club career goal.
Hanson continued to look to make things happen for Villa inside the final third and she drilled a strong cross through the area and into Chasity Grant on the 71st minute but the forward put her effort just wide of the post.
The game’s momentum sat firmly with Villa in the game’s close quarter as the side pushed on to re-gain their earlier lead but were stopped in their tracks when Brighton were awarded a dubious penalty kick on the 76thminute.
Tomàs was also harshly sent off as she was deemed to have elbowed Kiko Sieke inside the area. Despite Villa’s protests both decisions stood, and Kirby stood up to dispatch the penalty kick into the back of the net.
The decision didn’t falter Villa’s belief that they could earn something from the game and Lucy Staniforth came agonisingly close to levelling the scoring but her rifled shot from distance was pushed onto the crossbar.
Brighton’s Pattinson was given her marching orders inside stoppage time after receiving her second yellow card, both of which were for off the ball incidents.
Agyemang extinguished any hope for Villa of getting anything from the game as she sealed the win with the game’s sixth and final goal deep into stoppage time.
