Chaos ensued in the dying moments of Aston Villa Women's 2-1 win over West Ham on Saturday as a player was sent off for hitting an opponent and a coach was red carded. Hammers defender Hawa Cissoko and manager Paul Konchesky were both sent off in the final minutes.
Cissoko was given her marching orders after hitting Villa defender Sarah Mayling in the face and neck area in the 91st minute after the two of them had come together on the ball. Mayling had shoved Cissoko, which promoted the West Ham defender to lash out, throwing her arm at Mayling's face.
Cissoko was shown a straight red and then proceeded to march into Villa's technical area, squaring up to unused Villa substitute Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah. Things then heated up between the two coaching groups, which resulted in Hammers boss Konchesky being ordered down the tunnel after a red card for "aggressive behaviour".
Despite the red cards and Villa piling on the pressure in the closing minutes, West Ham clung on for their first win since the opening weekend of the Women's Super League season. The WSL is English football's top-flight women's tournament, and features many of England and Wales' internationals every week.
West Ham scored twice in the opening 14 minutes to condemn Villa to their first defeat of the season, with the Hammers cruising into a two-goal lead early on thanks to efforts from Dagny Brynjarsdottir and Honoka Hayashi and, although Villa pulled one back in the second half through Kenza Dali, the visitors held on.
