Ward: You can see improvement

Carla Ward has lauded the improved performances she's seen in her side since the turn of the year.

Aston Villa Women were unfortunately knocked out of the Vitality Women's FA Cup on Saturday by current holders Chelsea, but the level of play Ward has witnessed in the three games since Christmas has given her cause for optimism.

Following a spirited display at the start of January against Manchester City, Villa picked up three points with a stoppage-time win over Leicester City at the Pirelli Stadium.

And despite missing out on a chance to progress to the Fifth Round of the FA Cup, the boss was satisfied with what she saw on Saturday.

“We’ve competed for 90 minutes against a top Chelsea side in my opinion," Ward insisted.

"I’ve just looked at the stats and we’ve had more of the ball and we’ve worked it well but it’s that final third.

"We know that, we’ve got [Emily] Gielnik coming back. Post-Christmas we changed a bit.

"Against [Manchester] City I thought we were good in spells, I thought we were excellent against Leicester [City], and today in moments I thought we were outstanding.

"We’re disappointed because the first goal is maybe the only time we came out of our shape, the second goal is never a penalty.

"Overall, we’ve gone toe-to-toe… so with that I’m very pleased.”

Ward's optimism stems from the notion that results will take care of themselves if the performance levels remain the same against teams around Villa in the league table.

With West Ham United visiting the Banks's Stadium on Sunday, the chance to take maximum points is certainly achievable.

“We were fully on top, I think we played most of the first 25/30 minutes in their half," said Ward of the opening stages against Chelsea.

"We were disappointed but I said to the girls that if they can take elements of that into next week then we’ve got a very good chance.”

“We’ve shown some really good stuff out there and you can see a consistent improvement over the last three games and we’ve got to kick on.”