Villa 1-4 Liverpool

Aston Villa Women were beaten 4-1 by Liverpool at Poundland Bescot Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Sarah Mayling scored her first of the season from the penalty spot, but not before Grace Fisk and Sophie Roman Haug gave the visiting Reds an early two-goal advantage.

Villa pushed to level proceedings but were undone by a late brace from Emma Koivisto.

The result represents a disappointing beginning to March afer a positive February.

Carla Ward made just a single change from the side that started our 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur before the international break, with Kenza Dali replacing Canadian forward Adriana Leon.

Leon is on Gold Cup duty and has been in scintillating form for her country.

Liverpool looked the more threatening of the two sides from the outset, particularly from set-pieces, and took the lead through one after 19 minutes.

A well-worked routine ended with Mia Enderby’s effort being blocked, but only to fall to the feet of Fisk who converted from close range.

Villa were shaken into life and tried to respond quickly when Kirsty Hanson forced a save from Rachael Laws.

Dali also had a go from long range but didn’t seriously test Laws.

But just 10 minutes after opening the scoring, Liverpool doubled their advantage when Daphne van Domselaar palmed a cross straight onto the head of Roman Haug, leaving the Norwegian with the simple task of nodding into an empty net.

The scoreline was not what many had anticipated but Villa endeavored to find a route back into proceedings when they halved the deficit before the break.

Hanson drove into the penalty area from the left-hand side and, when felled by a visiting player, allowed Mayling to drill a spot-kick into the bottom corner to hand the hosts a lifeline.

Villa started the second half in the same way they’d ended the first, and Dali saw another attempt held by Laws with the appetite for an equaliser growing by the minute.

But with that appetite came a natural susceptibility on the counter attack, and Liverpool took advantage of that on the hour mark when Koivisto tucked the ball away at the back post.

The goal was a particularly difficult pill for Ward to swallow as she was set to introduce Dan Turner and Georgia Mullett to the fray.

In addition to those two changes, Ward threw on Freya Gregory and Ebony Salmon as one last roll of the dice.

Bu no sooner had the dice been rolled, Liverpool extended their lead to three.

Koivisto sent a looping header over van Domselaar and Rachel Corsie to solidify the lead and the result.

Villa will now look ahead to Wednesday’s Conti Cup semi-final at Arsenal.