Women's football: Aston Villa boss wants impressive Arsenal draw to be springboard
Proud boss Natalia Arroyo has urged Villa to use Saturday’s impressive draw at Arsenal as a springboard for the rest of the season.
Lucy Parker came off the bench to net a 94th minute equaliser and earn Villa a 1-1 draw in front of more than 24,000 fans at the Emirates Stadium.
Frida Maanum had earlier pounced on a mistake to put the Gunners ahead but Villa fought back and were worthy of their point.
Arroyo’s team are still searching for their first win of the WSL season but the performance was full of positives and she said: “We made a mistake and conceded a goal but - wow - the game we started playing after this was very good.
“When it gets to stoppage time you can’t get much more than a draw but I think it was absolutely deserved.
“It’s on us how we use this point. We can stay celebrating and think we are done. But we need three points against West Ham, three points against Leicester.
“We need to take the positives from Saturday into every game.”
Wolves boss Dan McNamara admitted to mixed feelings despite his team hammering Wythenshawe 7-1.
Six different players were on the scoresheet as Wolves made it three wins from three in the National League Cup to breeze into the knockout stages.
But though the result was emphatic, McNamara wasn’t completely satisfied with the performance.
“It is tough because I thought we were excellent in certain moments and in others we lacked quality again,” he said.
“Overall, it is the second week in a row we have scored seven and we are into the knockout rounds, so we’re happy with that.”
Albion also completed a perfect group stage thanks to a 2-0 win over Leafield Athletic at Alexander Stadium.
Early goals from Phoebe Warner and Simran Jhamat were enough to earn the Baggies a comfortable victory.
“I thought it was a game of two halves for us really,” said boss Siobhan Hodgetts-Still.
“I thought we were excellent in the first 45. In the second half we took our foot off the gas.”
Skye Owen grabbed a last-gasp winner to earn Sporting Khalsa a 1-0 win over Villa Academy and a place in the knockout rounds.
“It was a scrappy goal but at the end of the day, all you are going to see is the result,” said boss Juan Dopazo.
While Khalsa celebrated, Kidderminster bowed out of the competition with a 5-1 defeat at home to Cheltenham Town.
Walsall continued their impressive start to the West Midlands League season with a 4-3 win over Chasetown at the Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium. Mia Fellows scored twice for the home side.
