Spurs come from behind to beat Villa 2-1

By Football Reporter

Aston Villa 1-2 Tottenham

Tottenham moved into third place in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League table after coming from behind to beat a stubborn Aston Villa 2-1 at Banks's Stadium.

Spurs missed a golden chance to open the scoring after eight minutes when Rachel Williams dinked wide after a free-flowing team move had put her through on goal.

And they were soon behind just over ten minutes later when the impressive Alisha Lehmann cut in from the left and crossed to Villa captain Remi Allen who flicked home with the outside of her boot.

But the home side let their opponents back into the game when Meaghan Sargeant’s clumsy challenge on Ria Percival gave Tottenham a penalty.

Kyah Simon stepped up and duly converted from the spot for her first Spurs goal to bring her side level just before the half-hour mark.

The teams went in all-square at half-time after Villa’s Ruesha Littlejohn and Spurs’ Williams were booked by referee Kirsty Dowle following a heated exchange.

Spurs then completed the turnaround in the 68th minute when Jessica Naz slipped the ball through to Williams down the right and the striker found plenty of space in the box before firing a powerful right-footed effort home.

Villa thought they had equalised in the 80th minute when Spurs keeper Tinja-Riikka Korpela dropped a long free-kick and Sargeant’s scuffed shot appeared to cross the line before it was cleared by Molly Bartrip.

But the officials ruled in favour of Rehanne Skinner’s visitors who leapfrogged Brighton with all three points.

To follow the action and sign up for The FA Player’s live Barclays FA Women’s Super League coverage visit womenscompetitions.thefa.com

Aston Villa (4-3-3): Hannah Hampton, Sarah

Mayling, Meaghan Sargeant, Anita Asante, Mayumi Pacheco, Ruesha Littlejohn, Chloe Arthur, Remi Allen, Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah, Emily Gielnik, Alisha Lehmann

Substitutes: Laura Brown on for Arthur 73, Freya Gregory for Gielnik 83, Shania Hayles for Boye-Hlorkah 89, Marisa Ewers for Littlejohn

Substitutes not used: Elisha N'Dow, Jodie Hutton, Olivia McLoughlin, Gemma Davison, Sian Rogers

Goals: Allen 19

Bookings: Littlejohn 45, Allen 77

Tottenham (4-4-2): Tinja-Riikka Korpela, Ashleigh Neville, Molly Bartrip, Shelina Zadorsky, Kerys Harrop, Kyah Simon, Maéva Clemaron, Cho So-hyun, Jessica Naz, Ria Percival, Rachel Williams

Substitutes: Angela Addison for Clemaron 72, Rosella Ayane for Simon 90

Substitutes not used: Esther Morgan, Josie Green, Jiali Tang, Asmita Ale, Chioma Ubogagu, Rebecca Spencer, Eleanor Heeps

Goals: Simon 30 (pen), Williams 68

Bookings: Williams 45, Clemaron 62

Referee: Kirsty Dowle