Aston Villa 1-1 Manchester City: Kirsty Hanson earns Villa a well-deserved point

Christy Hanson’s close-range strike gave Aston Villa a deserved equalizer against Manchester City.

But Hanson, on loan from Manchester United, equalized two minutes later from Rachel Daley’s cross.

Villa came close to the winner in the second half but Hanson hit the post and Kenza Daly’s long-range effort was saved by Eli Roebuck.

By this point Aston Villa had moved above Everton into fifth place, having played a game more.

Manchester City remains in fourth place, but misses the opportunity to advance equally on points with Arsenal and Manchester United in the Champions League qualification positions.

Villa worth a point

This hard-earned draw completes an impressive run for Aston Villa, who beat Tottenham last weekend And I saw President Carla Ward Signing a new contract in the middle of the week.

They showed great character to recover from a bad start and could have easily won the game in the second half.

“There’s definitely a lot of positive,” said Ward. “It’s a big point, City are a very good team.” “But there were definitely a few moments where if we had gone ahead in the last third we could have taken one or two of those chances. But it was a team performance.

“We’ll go home happy tonight but there are still things to improve and keep going.”

For City, the draw extends to 13 matches across all competitions. But Gareth Taylor’s side have little margin for error as they try to chase down the top three, and the missing two points could prove costly.

They started the game on the front foot, with Shaw blasting three shots from inside the area in quick succession by Villa defender Daniel Turner before Chol Kelly volleyed a missile into the side-netting from a tight angle.

As well as being a threat in the penalty area, Shaw’s delay was irritating the Villa backline and led to the opening goal in the 28th minute.

The 25-year-old fell deep before her marker rolled and slid the ball through Villa’s center back for Castellanos, who calmly slotted home his first goal in the Women’s Basketball League.

Villa offered little as an attacking threat at that point, but managed to equalize just two minutes later when Daley’s cross fell to Hanson – his close-range half-volley was too powerful for Roebuck, who got the ball with his hands but couldn’t. Prevent it from looping in the network.

Villa started the second half with the better team and came within inches of the lead when Hanson hit the post with a curling shot from just inside the area.

Daly, who was great in midfield, then came close with a half-volley from distance that Roebuck cleared well.

City thought they had snatched a late winner but Anna Lett did well to save Shaw from close range in injury time.

“I thought it was flat,” Taylor told Sky Sports. “Even before we scored we were a little slow in everything – slow with our play and our reactions. We scored a good goal and kicked a cheap goal soon after that.

“We weren’t pressing, there wasn’t a lot of cohesion. Going out against a decent Villa team with a point is better than losing the game.

“We don’t have to worry about losing a point. We still haven’t lost, which is positive for us. There’s still a lot of football to play so we’re just attacking the next game.”