On Saturday at the Bescot Stadium, Aston Villa opened the FA Women’s Continental League Cup with a shootout win over Manchester United. It was a dramatic match, as both teams were at 1-1, which was decided by penalties, in which Villa scored 4-3 and won.
Anna Leat, Aston Villa’s goalkeeper, was the hero of the match, who stopped the penalties from Ella Toone, Hannah Blundell, Hayley Ladd, and Ona Batlle. Mayumi Pacheco scored the final penalty kick for the Villa and led them to win the first match in the league.
In the 90 minutes, Both teams scored one goal each, Nikkita Parris scored the goal for Manchester United in the 16th minute, and Rachel Daly scored the goal for Aston Villa in the 57th minute.
The first match of group A drew by 1-1, but there was an additional bonus point on offer for the shootout winners, which was well utilized by Villa, who won the match.
Manchester United’s goalkeeper Sophie Baggaley stopped the penalties from Kenza Dali, Rachel Daly, and Natasha Harding, but she could not able to stop the other four penalties, which led the Villa to win.
Marc Skinner, the Manchester United head coach, said for me, we had two leading positions in the game, and I have just said to the players most games are about the psyche.
Moreover, he said we must win the games when we are on top, and when we are winning 1-0 and on penalties, we don’t let a team in. That’s what I am going to keep challenging our players to do that psyche to turn us into the team we want to be, he said.
