Aston Villa Women vs Leicester City Women. Women's Super League.
Poundland Bescot StadiumAttendance741.
Match report as Aston Villa Women beat Leicester City 2-1 thanks to second-half goals from Sarah Mayling and skipper Remi Allen to win their opening WSL clash; the visitors had gone in ahead at the break after Natasha Flint had opened the scoring six minutes before half-time
Monday 27 September 2021 16:41, UK
Aston Villa came from behind to beat Leicester City 2-1 in their Women's Super League opener at the Banks's Stadium on Saturday.
The newly-promoted team had led at half-time through Natasha Flint's 39th-minute strike, albeit with the help of Villa goalkeeper Hannah Hampton.
However, the home side responded with two quick-fire goals in the second half, first levelling thanks to Sarah Mayling's stunning free-kick (63), before captain Remi Allen's close-range effort (64) sealed the victory for Carla Ward's team.
If Villa thought they could ease into the new WSL season against newly-promoted Leicester, then they were given a shock by the visitors at Banks's Stadium as Jonathan Morgan's side produced an accomplished display that should serve notice of their quality this season.
The visitors largely dominated the opening 45 minutes, with Flint causing the Villa defence no end of problems before the break and it was only Hampton's brilliance and reflexes in the hosts' goal that kept the scoreline goalless.
That is, though, until the Villa No 1 had a helping hand, literally, in Flint's opener six minutes before the break as the goalkeeper somehow allowed the Leicester striker's shot from just inside the box to find the back of the net.
Villa were obviously given a wake-up call by manager Carla Ward at half-time such was their second-half turnaround, as first Mayling equalised with a wonderful curling free-kick.
Then a minute later, Allen was in the right place, at the right time, to touch home substitute Shania Hayles' cross from the left to complete the turnaround.
However, Villa still needed a last-minute goal-line clearance to prevent substitute Lachante Paul for a certain equaliser in what was a thrilling WSL opener in the Midlands.
Villa travel to West Ham next Saturday at 11.30am, with the game live on Sky Sports Main Event and Premier League, while Leicester host Man Utd on Sunday September 12, with the game kicking off at 2pm.
