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West Ham 1 Aston Villa 1
Remi Allen’s dramatic injury-time equaliser ensured Aston Villa continued their solid start to the new season under new manager Carla Ward as West Ham were denied a first league victory at their Dagenham and Redbridge home.
Adriana Leon gave the hosts the perfect start after capitalising on a defensive mix-up to end West Ham’s drought in front of goal – it was the first time The Irons had netted in over 600 minutes of league football.
The hosts looked to be heading for a rare home victory but sat back in the closing stages as they staved off long periods of pressure from the visitors, who celebrated wildly when Allen nodded home from close range.
Ward’s side even sniffed victory when West Ham keeper Mackenzie Arnold found herself scooping a dangerous cross off her own line after the Midlands outfit had rallied to claw back a point, which could prove vital come the end of the season.
With both claret and blue clubs looking to establish themselves as mid-table sides in the WSL this season – and with new managers at the helm – this was a curious match-up between two teams that lacked firepower last season.
Having bolstered their ranks over the summer, Villa look a different beast to the one that failed to win any of their four top-flight matches in London during their debut WSL season, despite falling behind to Leon’s opener.
The Canadian Olympic gold medallist had a golden opportunity to double West Ham’s lead when, sniffing out Elisha N’Dow’s mistimed back pass to keeper Hannah Hampton, she glimpsed an empty goal.
But Hampton, who was not named in Hege Riise’s England squad in the week – a decision which Villa manager Ward described as “astounding” – did enough to stifle Leon, sliding in to make a crucial block before racing back towards her goal to pounce on the ball. The 20 year-old, who was first called up to the national senior side last year, went on to pull off a flurry of crucial saves which ultimately kept her side in the match and backed up Villa’s opening-day win over league newcomers Leicester with another valuable point.
“Name me a better English keeper in form right now, because I don’t know if there is one,” an elated Ward said of Hampton afterwards. “She made four world-class saves at pin-point today. For me, I would love somebody to sit here and tell me who’s a better in-form keeper than her.”
Villa will wonder what might have been had they not taken so long to grow into the game. They struggled to impose themselves in the first half and found attacking channels to their new Australian striker, Emily Gielnik, closed down during the brief passages of play they strung together. It fell to Alisha Lehmann, Sarah Gayling and Allen to tee up their own efforts at goal, while Anita Asante’s header from a corner looped over.
By contrast, the hosts flooded forwards with confidence and set about exposing Villa’s defensive fragilities with Dagny Brynjarsdottir, West Ham’s towering Icelandic midfielder, proving a constant menace for Villa’s back four. It was fitting that Lisa Evans, the versatile wing-back on loan from Arsenal, was the provider for Leon’s opener, astutely cutting inside Asante in the box before squaring the ball to the striker, who ended West Ham’s barren run of six league games without a goal.
And yet, the warning signs started to come. Villa went about their business with much more intent after the break – a measure perhaps of the positivity Ward has already imprinted on this young side. When Ramona Petzelberger’s shot clipped the post, it was only a matter of time before the visitors crafted an opportunity, which Allen had the honour of converting to break West Ham hearts.
The Irons were two minutes away from their first home win at the ground they moved into last season. “It’s not necessarily something that’s psychological because we really haven’t talked about it – we look at it as a new season and a new opportunity,” West Ham manager Olli Harder said of his side’s luckless streak in their stadium, before adding that Villa’s goal at the death felt like a defeat.
“I thought the pitch played well today, I’m appreciative of the fact we have a good surface to play on, and obviously having the crowd here was fantastic so there’s not much more we can ask for. The sun was out in East London, we just need to do our job better.”
Match details
West Ham (3-5-2): Arnold; Parker, Flaherty, Longhurst; Evans, Brynjarsdottir, Stringer, Filis, Wyne; Leon, Walker (Joel 74).
Subs not used: Leat, Cairns, Garrad.
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1): Hampton; Mayling, N’Dow, Asante, Pacheco; Arthur (Petzelberger 55), Allen; Lehmann (Davison, 67), Littlejohn (Hayles 79), Boye-Hlorkah; Gielnik.
Subs not used: Hutton, Haigh, Gregory, Blindkiilos-Brown, Rogers.
Booked: Stringer, Littlejohn.
Referee: Kirsty Dowle
Att: 1,106.