City defeated in final pre-season game against Aston Villa | OneFootball

Manchester City fell to a narrow 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa in our last behind-closed-doors friendly at Bodymoor Heath.

The home side took an early lead into half-time after Paula Tomas’ shot was deflected in before Lucy Staniforth’s goal from outside the box doubled their lead.

Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw reduced the deficit after some effective, direct play from City, but it was Villa who claimed the victory.

City dominated possession in the early exchanges, but it was the hosts who broke the deadlock on seven minutes.

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It was nice build-up play on Villa’s left side with the move ending with Tomas who struck a neat volley which was deflected in past Ayaka Yamashita.

City’s best chance of the half fell to Kerstin Casparij, after a pinpoint kick out from the back from Yamashita found the full back, but the chance was spurned.

Both teams cancelled each other out for the remainder of the half, with Villa looking strongest through the middle and down the right side with Katie Robinson, but without any end product.

Into the second-half, Shaw blocked an attempted clearance from the Villa defence and Aoba Fujino couldn't convert the opportunity to draw us level, moments before Laura Coombs’ volley went wide from Vivianne Miedema’s cross.

Villa had a corner which was cleared by Alanna Kennedy, but it fell to Staniforth outside the box and her effort found the back of the net to double the hosts’ lead.

Gareth Taylor's side nearly delivered the perfect response, after some neat link-up play between Shaw and Lily Murphy on the break resulted in Murphy’s shot bouncing off the inside of the post to the forward’s frustration.

However we did make our pressure in the second-half tell, as Mary Fowler darted on a direct run down the left before playing the ball to Shaw, who scored to narrow the deficit.

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Shortly before full-time Villa had the opportunity to make it three before the referee pulled play back for an offside decision.

Despite defeat, it was another crucial opportunity for Taylor’s players to get vital minutes on the pitch before our 2024/25 UEFA Women’s Champions League campaign begins on Wednesday with a clash in Paris.

LINE-UPS

City XI: Yamashita (Keating), Casparij (Thomas), Aleixandri (Layzell), Greenwood (Kennedy), Ouahabi, Park (Blindkilde-Brown), Hasegawa (Coombs), Miedema (Prior) , Kelly (Fujino) (Murphy), Hemp (Shaw), Fowler

Subs: Startup, O’Carroll

Aston Villa XI: D’Angelo, Tomas (Turner), Patten (Corsie), Kearns, Nobbs , Daly (Salmon), Dali (Staniforth), Robinson (Grant), Parker (Pacheco), Maritz (Mayling), Leon (Hanson)

Subs: Poor, Taylor, Tucker, Johnson