It was a day of firsts in the West Midlands. Not only did Villa Park host both its inaugural Women’s Super League game and a debut-making World Cup winner but the fixture marked the opening of a new season.
As two Georgia Stanway goals offered Manchester City a winning start to the campaign, the only shame was that one of England’s finest grounds was devoid of fans to witness the resumption of the women’s top tier since its curtailment in March.
Back then Manchester City topped the table but were subsequently forced to conceded a title decided on points per game to Chelsea.
Now under new management – Gareth Taylor having replaced Nick Cushing – City began in a mode that suggested they have no desire to settle for another runners-up slot. Rumours that the England right-back Lucy Bronze – one of the world’s best players – is close to re-joining them from Lyon have gathered strength but Taylor has already presided over a double transfer coup. In transporting Sam Mewis and Rose Lavelle, two US internationals – and World Cup winners – to the Etihad Campus, City have in effect parked their tanks on Chelsea’s front lawn.
Although Lavelle remains in quarantine following her arrival from America, Mewis started her first game in midfield and despite missing a very presentable headed chance early on before seeing a goal ruled out for an offside, she looked almost instantly at home.
With the excellent Chloe Kelly, the England winger signed from Everton this summer, posing Villa’s defence a series of questions they struggled to answer, it was no real surprise when Villa fell behind in the sixth minute. Stanway’s first goal stemmed from an awful backpass, leaving Villa’s wrong-footed keeper, Sian Rogers, stranded before tapping the ball into an empty net.
Things swiftly got worse for Rogers, whose attempt to clear another slapdash backpass was again blocked by Stanway, who, to the keeper’s mortification, bundled home a second.
As Kelly’s left-wing manoeuvres left Villa increasingly bewildered, Steph Houghton unleashed some imperious balls from centre-half and Mewis’s crisp one-touch passing threatened to unhinge the home backline completely. Gemma Davies rifled through the pages of her notebook ever faster while making an increasingly urgent series of jottings. At 28 she is the youngest manager in WSL history and could have done with a gentler induction to the top flight for her promoted side.
At least the watching Eni Aluko, Villa’s director of football, and Phil Neville, England’s manager, will have noted the home side’s creditable refusal to fold.
Stine Larsen not only had a header cleared off the line by Demi Stokes, but an apparently legitimate effort was chalked off for the most controversial of offsides after her clean connection with the rebound following Ellie Roebuck’s parry of Ramona Petzelberger’s volley.
Judging by Villa’s second-half display, Davies’s notes proved pretty useful. Quite apart from finally getting close enough to Kelly to make the odd tackle, the home side looked infinitely better organised after the break, retaining possession much better.
As Portugal’s Diana Silva gave City’s defence the odd fright, Roebuck finally made a save, doing well to deny Emma Follis. Meanwhile Rogers atoned for those calamitous earlier defensive mix ups by repelling Stanway’s awkwardly rising shot.
“Georgia’s got so much energy,” said Taylor, who left England’s key striker Ellen White on the bench for over an hour. “You just wind her up before the game and let her go like a wind-up toy.”
