Aston Villa dropped their first points of the Women’s Super League season as West Ham held on for a narrow victory at Bescot Stadium.
Dagny Brynjarsdottir gave the visitors an early lead when she nodded in Kirsty Smith’s corner from close range.
Honoka Hayashi made it 2-0 before West Ham keeper Mackenzie Arnold saved Alisha Lehmann’s second-half penalty.
Kenza Dali pulled a goal back for Villa and West Ham defender Hawa Cissoko was sent off in a dramatic finish.
Cissoko appeared to slap Sarah Mayling in an off-the-ball altercation, which prompted a similar melee on the touchline and ended with West Ham boss Paul Konchesky also dismissed for his involvement.
The result lifted West Ham into sixth in the table, level on points with fifth-placed Villa.
Before the game, players from both teams came together to display a banner reading “protect the players” after a recent independent investigation found “systemic” abuse in the United States’ National Women’s Soccer League.
This weekend’s fixtures are the first WSL games played since the report was published.
Clinical Hammers punish Villa
Villa went into the recent international break on the back of impressive league wins over Manchester City and Leicester, and a penalty shootout success against Manchester United in the League Cup.
Their strong start to the campaign earned manager Carla Ward the WSL manager of the month award for September, but the hosts were slow out of the blocks against West Ham and found themselves 2-0 down inside a quarter of an hour.
Rachel Daly, the WSL’s joint top scorer this season with three, went close to cancelling out Brynjarsdottir’s opener with a looping header that went narrowly over the crossbar, but Hayashi’s clinical finish gave West Ham a two-goal cushion moments later.
Villa’s Manchester United loanee Kirsty Hanson headed wide from a good position and Anna Patten hit the post with a header on the stroke of half-time, either side of West Ham’s Viviane Asseyi finding the side-netting from a tight angle.
Although Villa improved in the second half, they struggled to create any clear openings until the latter stages.
Referee Cheryl Foster awarded Villa a penalty when Kate Longhurst was adjudged to have handled the ball inside the area, but Arnold was equal to Lehmann’s tame effort.
Dali sent a magnificent curling finish into the top corner to reduce the arrears before Cissoko was sent off.
Writes /BBC/
Reports /TrainViral/
