Aston Villa 1-2 Everton
Report by Emily Brown, exclusive photography from Suvadeep Biswas, both at Villa Park for Impetus (27/11/23).
Above: Aston Villa’s Ebony Salmon (facing away from camera) looks to beat her marker. Photo: Suvadeep Biswas for Impetus.
Aston Villa’s mistakes led to a physical Everton gaining reward, securing them the win at Villa Park.
Before the game commenced, the Toffees already found themselves in an unfortunate position, with their Italian striker, Martina Piemonte, absent from the matchday squad. Heather Payne coming in as her replacement.
It was revealed mid-week that the 26-year-old (who scored her first goal for her new club last week) would serve a three-match suspension after being charged with violent conduct following an ‘off-the-ball incident’ that occurred during Everton’s game against Bristol City last week.
Everton boss Brian Sørensen was further forced to leave out the side’s second Italian international, Aurora Galli, following a knock she picked up mid-week affecting a “ligament in her foot”, as the Toffees’ head coach confirmed post-match.
In the Blue’s midfield, a slight change was made. Australian midfielder, Clare Wheeler took a central midfield position in comparison to her wing-back role seen so far this season.
The only change Aston Villa manager Carla Ward made to the squad that beat West Ham was swapping out young midfield maestro Laura Blindkilde-Brown for the experienced Jordan Nobbs.
The first half ended with a tie between both sides. As the game progressed it revealed to be a tight physical battle. Both sides drew good chances but couldn’t connect with the net, with many shots on goal being spectacularly saved on either end.
Villa defender Sarah Mayling looked very positive in the first half, facing a tough physical duel against Everton’s Sara Holmgaard who wasn’t afraid to wrestle for possession. However, it was Villa who came out on top with the most possession overall. Mayling connected well with both Jordan Nobbs and Adriana Leon, leading to progressive runs forward.
Everton had two early chances with Katja Snoeijs’ strike reaching the hands of Villa’s dependable Daphne van Domselaar. Hanna Bennison also looked in good form despite her set pieces falling to the same fate.
The partnership between Nicoline Sørensen and Sara Holmgaard proved difficult to overcome with Holmgaard having a very determined first half, looking exceedingly dangerous on the left-hand side.
However, Everton had a close call when Villains’ winger Kirsty Hanson ran away with the ball, driving a cross into the Toffee’s side netting.
Frustrations built up fairly quickly with emotions boiling over following an off-the-ball incident between Villa defender Maz Pacheco and Everton’s Justine Vanhaevermaet. A shortly followed yellow card was shown to the Toffees for a bad foul on Kirsty Hanson by Karen Holmgaard.
For Villa, it became more and more apparent that Everton’s hunger for their first win since the Merseyside derby earlier this season came at a detriment to the West-Midlands side, that even Rachel Daly couldn’t counter.
It wasn’t long before a second yellow card was shown to the Merseyside team after Snoeijs tugged on the shirt of Kenza Dali, just after Snoeijs had had a strike on goal punched out by van Domselaar.
Coming into the second half, a substitution for Everton meant that Nathalie Björn took the place of Karen Holmgaard who is still only able to play 60 minutes due to her recovering injury.
Unfortunately for Villa, the opening goal of the match was an own goal, conceded by defender Anna Patten. Previous to this mistake she’d made some excellent blocks in the first half denying Everton’s efforts goalward.
However, it wasn’t long before the equaliser from Rachel Daly actualised. From Dali to Hanson, the hard work along the right side finally connected in the final stages of play.
Villa’s movement along both sides of the touchline proved relentless. However, a penalty conceded by Hanson saw Everton substitute, Björn, convert the opportunity, sending Villa’s goalkeeper in the opposite direction.
It looked promising for the hosts as substitute Ebony Salmon quickly strove towards goal causing Everton’s defence to blunder before regaining composure, resetting the phase of play.
Everton came back with the same energy as Sørensen made an exciting run forward, leaving Villa in the dust. However, once again, the Dutch number one made a heroic save.
With just short of five minutes to go before full time Villa’s desperation couldn’t outweigh their tiredness. It looked at one point that Northern Irish striker Simone Magill would save the day for Villa. The forward having made her return to the WSL this match since missing out through injury the past couple of weeks.
Nevertheless, her shot was denied by goalkeeper Sarah Brosnan who was tested in quick succession during the last few moments of the game. The last chance for Villa stood with a Dali corner. An exciting passage of play followed between substitutes Alisha Lehmann and Lucy Staniforth, with Lehmann going goalward. Brosnan remained focused, coming off her line to grab it, keeping the score line in her favour.
Speaking at the post-match media conference, Villa manager Carla Ward said her team’s performance was: “Disappointing. I don’t think we played with any sort of intensity or any rhythm… Ultimately, we lost the game rather than (Everton winning) the game…
“It’s an own goal and a penalty that’s won them the game, but did we do enough to win it? Absolutely not. Did we deserve to lose it? Probably not…. we’ve got to be better than that.”
The away side’s manager Brian Sørensen’s thoughts on his team’s performance were as follows: “… we knew that we really (needed) to stick together, work hard, and yeah I think we did that.
“I’m really happy for the win of course and then also the performance that we put behind it… Everybody chipped in despite us having many… key players (out).”
Teams: ASTON VILLA (4-3 -3): van Domselaar; Mayling, Patten, Turner, Pacheco; Dali, Corsie, Nobbs; Leon, Daly, Hanson. Substitutes: Staniforth, Lehmann, Magill, Salmon.
Scorers: Daly (55’).
EVERTON (3-4-1-2): Brosnan; K. Holmgaard, Finnigan, Veje; Vanhaevermaet, Bennison, Wheeler, S. Holmgaard; Snoeijs, Sørensen, Payne. Substitutes: Björn, Olesen, Campbell, Bissell.
Scorers: Patten OG 54‘, Björn (pen) 74’.
Referee: Stacey Pearson.
Attendance: 4,203.
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