Aston Villa determined to bounce back from Man Utd loss
Villa boss Carla Ward says her side will use the 5-0 thumping to Manchester United as ‘motivation’ when they meet the Red Devils this evening.
The Villans welcome Women’s Super League leaders United to the Bescot Stadium sitting 14 points adrift in fifth. Villa were thumped 5-0 in the reverse fixture in December, adding 18 points in the 10 games since, and boss Ward wants her side to use the loss to spur themselves on tonight.
She said: “Absolutely (we learnt lessons) and it hurt, I’m not going to lie. I think that has to be a motivation this weekend.
“We weren’t at our best, we’ve got a very different-looking team to that last game, it’s one we definitely have reflected on and we want to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Ward’s squad was boosted in January by the additions of Lucy Staniforth and fellow midfielder Jordan Nobbs.
Ward hopes to secure forward Kirsty Hanson for the future too saying: “We’re optimistic about it, I think it also depends on where Manchester United end up. If you play Champions League, you need a very big squad. So we’ll have to see how the remaining games pan out. Certainly we want to keep her.”
