Aston Villa 1-2 Everton

Aston Villa Women fell to a first defeat in five games on Sunday evening, losing 2-1 to Everton at Villa Park.

Anna Patten's own goal gave the visiting side an early second-half lead before Rachel Daly offered an immediate response to make it 1-1.

But Nathalie Bjorn's penalty on 74 minutes sealed the victory for the Toffees.

Carla Ward made seven changes from the side that started Wednesday’s 7-0 win over Blackburn Rovers in the Conti Cup, with only Sarah Mayling, Anna Patten, Dan Turner and Maz Pacheco keeping their places.

Everton made the better start of the two sides and registered their first effort on target after four minutes when Katja Snoeijs shot straight at Daphne van Domselaar after turning Dan Turner inside the area.

Anna Patten, goal-scorer during our last league outing, headed an effort towards the Everton goal minutes later but caused no real problems for Courtney Brosnan.

There was no real flow to the first half from thereon, but Kenza Dali did force a save from Brosnan 25 minutes in having been played through by Rachel Daly.

Daly was on the receiving end of our next, and probably best, chance as Adriana Leon cut the ball back from the right-hand side of the area.

Our number nine, however, couldn’t quite get enough purchase on the attempt and the ball went harmlessly into the arms of Brosnan.

Van Domselaar was again tested by Snoeijs at the other end as she tipped over the bar shortly before the break.

After the interval, Everton took the lead when Anna Patten turned the ball into her own net from point-blank range.

Villa have displayed plenty of character in recent weeks, though, and that continued when Daly tapped home seconds later to restore parity.

It looked as though the game was set up for Carla Ward’s side to go on and take all three points, but the visitors were awarded a route to victory when Kirsty Hanson felled  an Everton player inside the area.

Björn stepped up to slot home the penalty, giving the Toffees a late lead.

The action suddenly became unrelenting as we entered the final stages, first with van Domselaar denying Nicoline Sørensen from close range before Kenza Dali’s long-distance effort was palmed around the post by Brosnan.

Simone Magill, featuring for the first time against her former club, squeezed a shot towards goal as additional time loomed, but Brosnan again held on with relative comfort.