Manchester City missed the chance to move level on points with Manchester United and Arsenal, as the United loanee Kirsty Hanson cancelled out Deyna Castellanos’s first WSL goal to earn Aston Villa a point.
“It’s not one of our best, we looked a bit flat from the start,” the City manager, Gareth Taylor. “We scored a good goal and then obviously the concentration was poor.
“We couldn’t get the symmetry and combination right apart from the final 15-20 minutes. Villa had some attempts, too many for our liking, but it was important not to lose as much as a point isn’t what we wanted. Today’s performance is a point we appreciate.”
- Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for 'The Guardian'.
- If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you’re on the most recent version.
- In the Guardian app, tap the Menu button at the bottom right, then go to Settings (the gear icon), then Notifications.
- Turn on sport notifications.
The 1-1 draw at the Academy Stadium means Villa has taken four points against City this season, denting the home team’s Champions League and title hopes –
hopes Taylor had played up after the team’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United when he pointed out that if they won every game the title would be theirs.
However, Carla Ward has been rewarded by her Aston Villa team’s rise this season with a contract extension that ties her to the Midlands club until the end of the 2023-24 season and she has improved the threat of her team, dipping into the January transfer window to take advantage of the desire for match minutes of the England World Cup squad outsiders Jordan Nobbs and Lucy Staniforth.
Despite a relatively even first half in possessionterms, City had the edge, the team’s threat on the wings troubling the Villa back line. At the halfway mark City had nine shots to Villa’s four but only had three on target.
The home team took the lead, though, and it was league’s top scorer, Khadija Shaw, turning provider that led to the breakthrough. Just before the half-hour mark the Jamaica forward dropped deep and collected, holding up the ball before feeding it through to the unmarked Castellanos, who slotted coolly past the Villa goalkeeper, Anna Leat. It was the highly rated Venezuelan’s first league goal for City since joining in the summer.
The lead was short-lived, with the Villa centre-forward Rachel Daly, who is level with Shaw on nine league goals, delivering a cross from the right that dropped down for Hanson. She swung at it and the ball hit the defender Esme Morgan’s arm before rebounding back for the United loanee to power beyond Ellie Roebuck at the second time of asking.
Both teams pushed for the winner in the second half, with Hanson crashing an effort off the bottom of the post for Villa and City upping the ante late on with over 70% possession in the last 15 minutes but neither side could find a way through.
“There are definitely a lot of positives. It is a big point,” said Ward. “City are a very, very good side. But there were definitely a few moments there where if we sharpened up in the final third we could have taken one or two of those chances. But it was a collective team performance. We will be going home happy tonight but there’s still things to improve and kick on.”
