Aston Villa 2-2 Bristol City

Aston Villa Women were denied a crucial win in the Barclays FA Women's Super League on Saturday, drawing 2-2 with Bristol City.

Villa took a two-goal lead into half-time, and held that position until the closing stages of what was a frenetic game.

Faye Bryson and Ella Mastrantonio struck, however, to break the hearts of those in claret & blue.

The result keeps Villa above City on goal difference, with a game-in-hand to come on Wednesday against Birmingham City.

The afternoon started well enough, as Villa made the most flawless of starts when they opened the scoring inside five minutes.

Freya Gregory, deployed as a left wing-back, curled in a sumptuous cross towards the back post.

The ball was met by Shania Hayles, whose header was parried into the body of Meg Sargeant who inadvertently bundled into the Bristol City net.

The mixed emotions of relief and belief met the breakthrough goal, and it set the tone for a frantic first half.

Chloë Arthur was in the thick of the action throughout, and had a couple of close-range efforts narrowly miss the target.

The visitors posed a constant threat in what quickly became a very open game of football, but it was Villa who got the all-important second goal.

Nat Haigh, so often a rock at the back, met Elisha N'Dow's long ball forward with a looping header at the back post which found the net and doubled the claret & blue lead.

Villa were in the ascendency going into the break, and seemed doubly determined to put the game out of reach as they came out of half-time.

Hayles and Gregory both went close with rasping drives in the opening moments of the second frame.

The action didn't stop there, as Arthur tried her luck from distance, rattling the crossbar.

The game began to swing back in the favour of Matt Beard's side, however, when Bryson's effort evaded the reach of Lisa Weiß to cut the lead to one.

Villa were seemingly home and dry as they hacked away every attempt and every attack, but there was time for one last free-kick from the Robins.

The ball was pumped in from distance by Mastrantonio, and bizarrely trickled all the way in past Lisa Weiß.

The manner of the result was gut-wrenching, but the performance was a much improved one.

Focus now turns to the Second City derby on Wednesday, and another chance to inch closer to survival.