Dali and Daly score as Aston Villa beat Tottenham on WSL's resumption

Updated: Oct 12, 2023, 03:22 pm
Kenza Dali was on the scoresheet for Aston Villa.
Photo by Neville Williams/Aston Villa FC via Getty Images

With goals from Kenza Dali and Rachel Daly, Aston Villa became the first team to win in the Women's Super League in 2023 as they beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 as league returned after its winter break.

A chance for Aston Villa less than a minute into the game set the tempo for a first half that the hosts quickly began to dominate. However, despite barely having a chance, it was Spurs who broke the deadlock when new signing, Beth England swept Kerys Harrop's deft cross into the back of the Villa net.

Building well but unable to fully test Tinja-Riikka Korpela in the away goal, the strike gave the hosts the impetus to find their edge in attack and they soon scored an equaliser. A nippy piece of play saw the ball progress up the pitch for midfield maestro, Kenza Dali to lash home from outside the box.

One fast became two for Villa when Rachel Daly side-footed Kirsty Hanson's whipped ball over Korpela to take her to the top of the goalscorers table for this season and complete the ' comeback in the space of just 10 minutes.

A pair of half-time substitutions from the visitors saw Cho So-Hyun and Chioma Ubogagu replaced by Eveliina Summanen and Celin Bizet Ildhusøy respectively, with the switch giving Spurs more stability in their midfield, balancing out the second half when it got underway.

With the two teams cancelling each other out for large swathes of the match after the break, chances were at a premium with few clear goalscoring opportunities created leaving the game to fizzle out.

The win takes Villa up to sixth, leapfrogging Everton who host Reading on Sunday, with the team from the Midlands opening up a six-point gap on Spurs who remain on nine points after 10 matches.