Aston Villa boss Carla Ward takes aim at horrific abuse aimed at players

Saturday’s Women’s Super League contest at Bescot Stadium saw Hammers defender Cissoko sent off late on following an altercation with Villa’s Mayling.

Later that day, Cissoko posted a message on Twitter saying: “It’s lucky that not much affects me! Because some nonsense and (very aggressive) insults are flying around! It makes you want to kill yourself!”

Ward, speaking ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Everton, said: “Sarah and Hawa have been subject to some, quite honestly, horrific abuse online, both of them.

“They’re both human beings, good human beings at that. They’ve been involved in an altercation that’s happened in a highly-charged and emotional game, and I’m sure they’re both very sorry for the incident that happened. But the fact of the matter is neither of them, nobody deserves to have to go through what they went through in terms of that online abuse.”

She added: “(Mayling) has been great, she really has. We sat down with her when she returned on Monday, because we saw a lot of it on Sunday.

“It’s continued all week, but we’ve told her to stay off social media, to silence that and focus on football, and she’s done exactly that, she’s done brilliantly.

“Like I said, nobody should be subject to that, both her and Hawa, no matter what’s happened on the pitch. I think the abuse for both of them has been absolutely unacceptable.”

After Cissoko’s dismissal, West Ham boss Paul Konchesky was also shown a red card for his involvement in a subsequent altercation.

Giving her reflections on the dramatic conclusion to the game, which her side lost 2-1, Ward said: “When it happened, I was actually calling over Maz Pacheco and Kirsty Hanson to get directions into them, based on the fact they’d had a player sent off. They were down to 10, so my priority was trying to get the team organised and changing shape to try to hurt them.

“So when I turned around, I was a bit like ‘what on earth is going on?’ I immediately told my staff to walk away and let the ref deal with the onslaught of the West Ham bench. So we defused it fairly quickly.

“I went home not knowing what had happened. When we’ve reviewed it and looked, I have to credit my staff and our players, I think they’ve handled themselves brilliantly, and I think all of the footage shows that. Having reviewed it back, I can honestly say anyone that’s represented Aston Villa has conducted themselves in the right way.”

Asked if she was expecting fines for the Football Association for Villa or West Ham, she said: “I don’t think for us. I think the evidence, the footage has been submitted, so you hope that the FA review that and make their decisions based on the evidence provided.”