The Lionesses of the midlands welcomed Bristol Rovers Women to the Poundland Bescot Stadium on Sunday evening for what was to be an incredible nine goal thriller in Walsall.
Regardless of the outcome, the visiting club (currently playing in FA WNL Division One South West, the fourth tier of women’s football in England) have reached the fourth round of this Women’s FA Cup competition for the very first time! Rovers are also making history as young player, Imogen Davies, is the youngest player to make the matchday squad at 16 years and 118 days years old.
Before the match, Villa fans predicted a heavily rotated lineup hoping to see the likes of Maz Pacheco and Sophia Poor get more minutes for the club.
However, on the day the club announced the departure of goalkeeper Anna Leat, their interim manager, Shaun Goater, fielded a surprisingly senior side with the likes of Rachel Daly, Jordan Nobbs and Gabi Nunes all in the starting eleven.
Even more worryingly, the likes of Kenza Dali, Maz Pacheco and Lucy Staniforth, were all missing from the matchday squad; with youngster Ruby-Rae Tucker featuring again on a very thin Villa bench. Rachel Corsie, Lucy Parker and Missy Bo Kearns of course all remain sidelined with injury.
As the whistle blew, Bristol Rovers Women started quickly and almost broke through into the Villa penalty area but unfortunately for the visitors the offside flag was raised (a strong theme which was to continue throughout the match).
Within two minutes of the game starting, Aston Villa had begun their attack and captain Rachel Daly was the one who broke the deadlock; using a signature header to convert a Miri Taylor corner kick.
Photo credit: Aston Villa Women
It wasn’t long before the home side had doubled and even tripled their lead.
The second of the evening came from summer signing Gabi Nunes after she was able to convert a lovely cross from Ebony Salmon. Minutes later, Salmon was assisting yet again, this time down the right wing which Daly was able to convert with yet another header to make it 3-0 to Aston Villa.
A slippy pitch and some tight defending by Bristol Rovers got in the way of Aston Villa being four or five goals up in the first ten minutes but it didn’t stop the home side’s relentless attack.
This new clinical Villa was a joy to watch as the home support continued to sing loudly in the chilly stands of the Bescot. The visitors knew this game was going to be a tough ask but throughout the match they were able to disrupt Villa’s attack certainly more than the home side would have liked.
However, just after the 20 minute mark, left-back Paula Tomás added her name to the scoresheet as she secured Villa’s fourth of the evening. After some scrappy play in the box had initially denied Nunes, the ball landed at the Spaniard’s feet and she was able to comfortably slot it into the bottom right hand corner.
Seemingly unstoppable, Villa netted their fifth moments later. Mayling stepped up to take a free kick (after a foul on Leon just outside the box) which Nunes was able to convert quite acrobatically on the volley.
Photo credit: Aston Villa Women
Remarkably, just before the half-time whistle, Rachel Daly had her hattrick cancelled out three times (in as many minutes) due to the offside flag being raised. As the half finally came to a close, Aston Villa remained 5-0 up but frustratingly had the ball in the back of the net nearly double that amount.
At the break, Goater was able to bring on even more depth from his limited bench as Adriana Leon, Ebony Salmon and Rachel Daly made way for Chasity Grant, Kirsty Hanson and for the first time this season, Jill Baijings. The Dutch international was finally able to make her debut after returning from a back injury and was able to make quite an impact in claret and blue.
Within seconds of the restart, Kirsty Hanson made her signature run down the left wing and crossed the ball beautifully into the box for Grant to convert. Making it 6-0 to Aston Villa.
Bristol Rovers had come out with a fighting spirit in this second half and came incredibly close to getting a consolation goal themselves around the 70th minute. Their first chance came from Bassett who tried a solitary run at the Villa defence but was comfortably muscled off the ball.
Moments later, Jarvis (Rovers’ number 9) was able to push forwards and put away a lovely strike that called Sophia Poor into action for the first time as the shot skimmed the crossbar.
Ten minutes later and an almost mirror image of the sixth goal occurred as Chasity Grant turned provider for Kirsty Hanson to get her name on the scoresheet for Villa’s seventh goal.
Although Miri Taylor frustratingly hasn’t been able to score this evening, she has been the provider of some very well taken free kicks.
Particularly her corner taken in the 66th minute allowing Gabi Nunes’ head to convert for not only the home side’s eighth of the evening but also the Brazilian’s first ever Villa hattrick!
Photo credit: Aston Villa Women
Into the final 15 minutes and Bristol Rovers came so close to finding the back of the net after a lovely run by Evans. However, Sophia Poor was on call yet again and was able to punch away the attempt; with Miri Taylor then providing a definitive clearance to see the danger neutralised.
Not content with eight goals however, Villa’s debutant Jill Baijings was also able to demonstrate her goal scoring ability with some lovely control at the goal mouth as she found the back of the net to make it a massive 9-0 to Aston Villa.
As the final whistle blew, there were smiles all around as Bristol Rovers should be incredibly proud of their performance. They certainly didn’t make it easy for Aston Villa at any point in the game with some brilliant defending and intelligent goalkeeping by George Hunt too. The Gas Girls should also be incredibly proud of their travelling fans who (we are informed) sold out their ticket allocation, a fantastic sight to see as the women’s game continues to grow.
Aston Villa’s victory this evening sees them join: Manchester United, London City Lionesses, Sunderland, Newcastle United, Manchester City, Rugby Borough, Wolverhampton and Chelsea in the hat for the fifth round of the competition.
Other matches in this round postponed due to the weather were: Brighton and Hove Albion vs Durham, Everton vs Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City vs Stoke City, Crystal Palace vs Sheffield United, Arsenal vs Bristol City, Blackburn Rovers vs Portsmouth and West Ham vs Liverpool most of which are yet to be rearranged.
The Fifth Round Draw will be made live on Monday 13th January from Wembley Stadium.
Aston Villa will next face Everton away at Walton Hall Park as the Women’s Super League finally returns from its winter break.
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