A new ground, a new team to visit with a familiar name in Elizabeta Ejupi, a player who made a huge impact in her small time at Aston Villa last season. Our second game in the Championship saw us visit Oakwood on a Wednesday night. A ground that was welcoming from the guy on the gate to the wonderful woman that had a great chat with on our teams, who gave me some great history and facts on Charlton, always appreciate meeting new people that share a passion.
After the Leicester game Sunday it saw six changes to the starting line up and so happy to hear Amy West name being read for the bench even though she didn’t come on but means our midfield mastreo is nearly back as we miss her on the pitch a lot. The game started off fairly even as both teams were showing an eye for attacking and the first warning sign came when Charlton had the ball in the back of the net but was rightly given offside. Charlton began to build some pressure as Sian Rogers turned the ball behind for a corner as Charlton surged forward. As the pressure continued into the 12th minute as Graham worked the ball into Bryan who slotted the ball into the net making it 1-0 to Charlton. Jodie Hutton worked her magic and nearly instantly brought it back level as her shot went close. Some great play by Elizabeta Ejupi (nothing new here) saw her hold the ball up and link up with strikers so well for Charlton, but the Villa defence dealt with it. Hollie Gibson put a great ball into the box but Alison Hall couldn’t quite get the chance under the bar but was better from Villa. Continuing the pressure Evie Gane worked so hard and kept the ball for Villa as she crossed to Nadine Hanssen who nearly scored goal of the season with a perfectly timed shot but somehow the Charlton keeper pulled off the save keeping it 1-0. Once again the long ball over the top causes Villa troubles but once again the Charlton player was well offside as she slotted it home. Hanssen once again nearly pulled us level as Jodie Hutton hit the ball across the box but Nadine couldn’t get full power on it as the Charlton Keeper saved the ball comfortably. Villa was the downfall often second goal as a pass back was undercooked and Bryan eat off the plate adding a second goal making it 2-0 to the home team. Villa didn’t let heads drop as Hutton and Hanssen had chances to score as we went on the attack and just didn’t fall right. A nasty tackle on Alice Hassall saw the Charlton in the book for continued fouling just before the half time whistle. At 2-0 down it was a half defensively was a game to forget but going forward we looked as if could change the score.
The second half started as the first half did with both teams creating early chances off the back of the other team. Villa were starting to look like could get on the scoreboard as they took the front foot with Alison Hall rising up to head the ball but couldn’t get it on target but things were starting to look better for Villa. But just as we built some kind of pressure Charlton broke with pacey forwards as Jade Richards got well to block so well so it didn’t get through to the goal. Once again the ball over the top saw Sian Rogers out to take it and it bounced off her unluckily leaving the Charlton player an open goal but she decided to try turn on it and place it but again Jade was there to block it as the ball bounced around our box till Sian Rogers claimed it. The long ball over the top was causing Villa all kinds of troubles as Rogers and Richards just about dealt with it between them. Charlton caught us yet again on a fast counter as their effort ended up clattering the crossbar and falling to Sian Rogers in the Villa goal. Alison Hall drove down the wing and whipped the ball into the Charlton box but Nadine Hanssen couldn’t quite get to it as the Charlton keeper claimed the ball. Just after the hour mark Kerri Welsh came on for Sophie Haywood who had worked very hard all game including a moment where she landed right near feet sprawled out saying, well I can’t repeat haha. A lot of our attacks and runs were coming from Evie Gane trying to force Villa forward but the ball just wouldn’t fall right for us as we blew and blew the door. Gurr for Charlton took aim and fired and a great save by Sian Rogers as the ball curved and swerved kept it at 2-0 giving us a glimmer still. The game was still end to end but where our balls were just to long or not finding anyone it seemed to always drop at Charlton’s feet as Sian Rogers gathered from the attackers feet. Charlton hit Villa on the counter once again with some great play by Elizabeta Ejupi (as always) and just as was thinking knew it, that Lizzy would score against us she laid it off to Lily Agg who pulled the ball wide (I’d like to think that Liz didn’t want to score against us hehe, but her play was outstanding all game) On the 82 minute we introduced Phoebe Warner who got us on the right foot in the few minutes she was given again driving us forward and hitting the shot that was just about blocked but she linked up with Evie to push Villa forward. Tanisha Smith was introduced on the 87th minute and in 3 minutes made her mark as she left the Charlton players on the floor as she pushed Villa forward but we couldn’t quite make anything stick. The game finished with Villa on the attack and Charlton sitting back on their lead. In the dying minutes Jodie Hutton was still sprinting forward never seems to fade but the Charlton player pushed her as she went through the advertising boards with her momentum thankfully she was ok though.
Six changes back from a Winning team Sunday against Leicester and a long away trip to Charlton made for a great watch if you was a Charlton fan or a neutral because of the end to end action for most of the match. One of highlights as said before was seeing Amy West back on the bench as she is such a huge player for us going forward in the season. Positives to take from this was going forward as we created some good chances and how Nadine Hanssen didn’t have her name in the scorers I still don’t know. And we did keep going till the final whistle as Carly Davies was very vocal pushing the players to play to the whistle which was great to hear coming from an old Villa legend she is (Use the word old as in doesn’t play for us still defiantly not in age, sure she could still do a job for us) The last 8 minutes we had such great pace and power on the pitch and just didn’t have enough time for it to impact the game. One of those midweek away matches but we will lick ourselves up no doubt once again when we play Sheffield United away on Sunday 30th September, against a team we narrowly lost to but had chances to beat in the first game we played in the Conti Cup. It’s always easier to write a blog or to talk on a game when you win but even in a defeat I’m always proud of our girls in Claret And Blue because you can never fault the effort and desire shown on the pitch.
