Shekiera Martinez, Natalia Arroyo and Viviane Asseyi have picked up the Barclays WSL awards for April.
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Crystal Palace reignited the Barclays WSL relegation battle with a courageous 3-1 victory at home over Aston Villa. Goals from Aniek Nouwen, Ashleigh Weerden and Katie Stengel drew the Eagles within a point of 11th-placed Villa. Lucy Parker scored the consolation for the visitors.
Aston Villa reached the quarterfinals of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup with a battling 3-2 win over Brighton. Anna Patten, Rachel Daly and Chasity Grant all got on the scoresheet for Natalia Arroyo’s side while Nikita Parris notched a brace.
Vivianne Miedema starred at Villa Park to help end Manchester City’s losing streak. They beat Aston Villa 4-2 in the early kick off to move up to second in the Barclays WSL table.
Aston Villa’s problems deepened significantly as they sunk to a 6-0 defeat against Chelsea on a miserable afternoon in Walsall. First half strikes from Millie Bright and Fran Kirby set the current champions on their way. Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Ashley Lawrence, Aggie Beever-Jones and Niamh Charles added goals in the second to secure an emphatic victory.
“It’s not just me; it’s every single manager and every single player and every fan wanting the [refereeing] standards to go up,” stated a frustrated Carla Ward after Aston Villa were held by Brighton on Saturday afternoon.
A combination of Brighton’s resilience, a drop off in the home side’s levels, and sub-standard officiating saw the points shared at the Poundland Bescot Stadium after Julia Zigiotti’s strike cancelled out a first half own goal from Kayleigh Green.
“It feels great because the players have worked so hard. They’ve had a tough year. I don’t think there’s any hiding from that – the league table certainly doesn’t lie. I feel like they’ve really tried to come together, and they’ve done so well.”
There was a big sigh of relief from Everton’s Chris Roberts as his side earned their first league win since the end of November. It was a vital victory as they edged past Aston Villa on Wednesday night, leap-frogging Leicester City and extending the gap from the bottom to ten points.
The baseball player Babe Ruth once said: “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” No truer word could be spoken about this Birmingham City side, who will quite literally never throw in the towel.
On a night where they were outplayed for 90 minutes, second best in all areas of the park, they managed to find a way to fight back. They secured a draw, right at the death – a point that has almost certainly ensured their top flight status once more.
It has been said many times that football is a crazy game. This was exemplified no more than Saturday afternoon’s encounter between Aston Villa and Bristol City in Walsall.
The FA Cup returned to the Academy Stadium on Saturday afternoon as Manchester City swept past Aston Villa and into the 5th Round. It was nothing short of dominant from the hosts – professional, clinical and slick in attack.