England scores in debut defeat to Aston Villa - on-the-whistle report

We were beaten 2-1 by Aston Villa at the Poundland Bescot Stadium in the Women's Super League on Saturday afternoon.

Bethany England gave us the lead on her debut, but Villa responded through Kenza Dali and Rachel Daly to lead 2-1 at the break and that's how it stayed as the hosts claimed the points.

The home side had most of the ball during the first half as Jordan Nobbs shot straight at Tinja-Riikka Korpela in the first minute of the game. Kirsty Hanson crossed from the left wing moments later for Daly, but her header looped into Korpela's gloves.

Amy Turner had to go off with an injury and was replaced by Kerys Harrop in the 20th minute.

Harrop made an instant impact at left-back, darting down the wing to overlap Chioma Ubogagu before receiving the ball and putting a delightful cross into the danger area where England was on hand to tap in with her first touch of the ball for 1-0.

But it took Villa just five minutes to reply, Dali picking out the bottom left corner from the edge of the area to equalise. Daly then doubled the hosts' lead, dispatching into the far corner first time following another cross from Hanson.

Rosella Ayane put a dangerous cross into the box early in the second half but no-one was on the end of it, before Drew Spence curled straight at Anna Leat after Shelina Zadorsky had brought the ball out from the back. Molly Bartrip then made a progressive pass forward to Eveliina Summanen, who muscled her way through the Villa midfield before winning a free-kick, but her set-piece hit the wall from about 25 yards out.

Spence struck wide of the post from the edge of the area in the 74th minute as we continued to look for a way back into the game while Korpela made an important save with just under 10 minutes remaining, tipping over the bar to deny Daly after Alisha Lehmann had pulled the ball back for the England international.

We almost found an equaliser late on when England had the ball inside the 18-yard box, but she struck over the bar and our hopes of taking any points from the game slipped away.

Reaction on SPURSPLAY

Match data

Goals: Aston Villa Women - Dali 34, Daly 38; Spurs Women - England 29.

Yellow cards: Aston Villa Women - Nobbs 64; Spurs Women - Turner 16, Ayane 69, Spence 84.

Referee: Thomas Kirk.

Venue: Poundland Bescot Stadium, Walsall.

Weather: Rain, nine degrees.

Attendance: 2,094.