City secure comeback victory over Aston Villa

Gareth Taylor’s side had the opportunity to move to the summit of the WSL, albeit with an extra game played than Chelsea and Manchester United, and extend our unbeaten run to nine matches.

Despite dominating possession in the early exchanges, Aston Villa took the lead against the run of play, with Gabi Nunes poking home from close range.

In the second half, City pushed for the equaliser which came through Lauren Hemp past the hour mark, before Jill Roord added a second, and the winning, goal eight minutes later.

It means we have 13 points after our opening five WSL matches at the beginning of the campaign and moves us back to the top of the table.

WHAT HAPPENED

Manchester City played host to Aston Villa at a wet and windy Joie Stadium, as Gareth Taylor’s side looked to stretch our unbeaten start to the season to nine straight matches in all competitions.

The opening exchanges saw City have a lot of the ball as we tried to break down the stubborn claret and blue defence. 

And it was Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw who heeded shouts of “shoot” from the crowd as she charged towards the 18-yard-box, but her effort went high and wide of the target.

The Manchester wind was in our sails as moments later a cross was chipped in by Jill Roord and met the head of Shaw, who was all alone, but her looping header was caught calmly by Sabrina D’Angelo.

Villa were on the hunt for their first Barclays WSL win of the season, and broke the deadlock on 20 minutes.

Forcing a turnover, Kirsty Hanson raced down the left before playing a low cross into the box, and Gabi Nunes beat her marker to poke home her first league goal, giving the visitors the lead.

For the third match in a row, Gareth Taylor’s side had to come from a goal down.

Determined to get back onto level terms, Lauren Hemp was played through, but D’Angelo made herself big to deny the City winger.

Jess Park dribbled to the edge of the box, but her blocked shot landed to Hemp on the right, who opened her body and curled straight into the hands of Villa’s goalkeeper.

Just before the interval, Hemp, who had switched back onto the left wing, played a ball into Roord inside the penalty area, but her tame shot met the Villa keeper, who was behind the shot.

Sky blue shirts were flooding forward as City chased an equaliser with a concession of corners not being capitalised on, but just after the hour mark, it was all square.

Mary Fowler’s cross from the left was punched out by D’Angelo to Hemp, who nodded the ball up and lobbed it over her shoulder and into the net.

The sun started to shine down on the Joie Stadium, as City pushed for a winning goal, and eight minutes later we grabbed our second.

After some scintillating skill from Hemp down the left, she skipped past a couple of challenges.

Upon entering the box, she slid a ball back to Roord who took one touch before thundering in her first goal since coming back her ACL injury, to give City the advantage.

Shaw nearly made it three for City on two different occasions, as she steered a header wide across goal and then D’Angelo saved her one-on-one.

The visitors became more direct in the closing stages to try and test City’s resolve, but we held on to extend our unbeaten run and secure the three points to take us top of the WSL.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: LAUREN HEMP

Lauren Hemp proved to be influential in everything City did moving forward and in her defensive duties in Sunday afternoons victory over Aston Villa.

Her pressing, directness and aggression helped us move up the pitch. If anyone deserved to score a goal, it was Hemp, who provided the crucial equaliser past the hour mark.

HOW WE LINED UP

Gareth Taylor made six changes from the team who started in our thrilling 3-2 win over St Polten on Wednesday night.

Ayaka Yamashita returned in goal and was protected by a back four of Leila Ouabai, Kerstin Casparij, Laia Aleixandri and Alex Greenwood.

Yui Hasegawa anchored the midfield with Jill Roord starting alongside Jess Park in the engine room.

Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw led the line with Lauren Hemp and Mary Fowler in support on the flanks.

CITY XI: Yamashita, Aleixandri, Greenwood (C), Fowler, Roord, Hemp, Ouahabi, Park (83’ Fujino), Casparij, Shaw, Hasegawa

Unused substitutes: Keating, Coombs, Kelly, Kennedy, Blindkilde Brown, Prior, Thomas, Murphy

ASTON VILLA XI: D’Angelo, Patten, Kearns, Nobbs (78’ Taylor), Daly (C), Robinson (78’ Dali), Turner, Parker, Maritz (88’ Mayling), Hanson (65’ Salmon), Nunes (64’ Grant)

Unused substitutes: Poor,, Pacheco, Tucker

WHAT IT MEANS

Following the victory over Aston Villa, we now sit on 13 points after five matches and further extended our unbeaten start to the campaign to nine straight games.

The result catapults us to the top of the Women’s Super League with Brighton and Manchester United playing out a 1-1 draw on Saturday, but Chelsea and our city rivals have played a match less.

WHAT’S NEXT

After the international break, Gareth Taylor’s side travel to the capital to face Crystal Palace in our latest assignment at Selhurst Park.

Kick-off in south London is scheduled at 14:00 (UK) on Sunday 3 November.