Aston Villa 1-2 West Ham: Hammers end Villa's perfect WSL start

Aston Villa are without a triumph successful 5 WSL matches against West Ham

Aston Villa dropped their archetypal points of the Women's Super League play arsenic West Ham held connected for a constrictive triumph astatine Bescot Stadium.

Honoka Hayashi made it 2-0 earlier West Ham keeper Mackenzie Arnold saved Alisha Lehmann's second-half penalty.

Kenza Dali pulled a extremity backmost for Villa and West Ham defender Hawa Cissoko was sent disconnected successful a melodramatic extremity to the game.

The effect lifted Paul Konchesky's West Ham broadside into sixth successful the table, level connected points with fifth-placed Villa.

Before the game, players from some teams came unneurotic to show a banner speechmaking "protect the players" aft a caller autarkic probe recovered "systemic" maltreatment successful the United States' National Women's Soccer League.

This weekend's fixtures are the archetypal WSL games to beryllium played since the study was published.

Clinical Hammers punish Villa

Villa went into the caller planetary interruption connected the backmost of awesome league wins implicit Manchester City and Leicester, and a punishment shootout occurrence against Manchester United successful the League Cup.

Their beardown commencement to the run earned manager Carla Ward the WSL manager of the period grant for September, but the hosts were dilatory retired of the blocks against West Ham and recovered themselves 2-0 down wrong a 4th of an hour.

Rachel Daly, the WSL's associated apical scorer this play with three, went adjacent to cancelling retired Brynjarsdottir's opener with a looping header that went narrowly implicit the crossbar, but Hayashi's objective decorativeness gave West Ham a two-goal cushion moments later.

Villa's Manchester United loanee Kirsty Hanson headed wide from a bully presumption and Anna Patten deed the station with a header connected the changeable of half-time, either broadside of West Ham's Viviane Asseyi uncovering the side-netting from a choky angle.

Although Villa improved successful the 2nd half, they struggled to make immoderate wide openings until the second stages.

Referee Cheryl Foster awarded Villa a punishment erstwhile Kate Longhurst was adjudged to person handled the shot wrong the area, but Arnold was adjacent to Lehmann's tame effort.

Dali sent a magnificent curling decorativeness into the apical country to trim the arrears, earlier Cissoko was shown a reddish paper aft appearing to slap Sarah Mayling successful an off-the-ball altercation.

Konchesky was besides dismissed for remonstrating with Foster implicit the sending-off.