Carla Ward hailed the 'pride, heart and desire' displayed by her Aston Villa side during their opening day defeat to Manchester United.
In front of a club-record attendance of 12,533, it was a tight, tense contest until Rachel Daly picked up where she left off last season to put Ward’s side ahead in the 77th minute, but the visitors quickly responded through Lucía García and Rachel Williams – the latter in stoppage time – to take all three points.
The three goals in the contest were preceded by the dismissal of Kirsty Hanson, who was unfortunate to be shown a straight red card just two minutes before Daly’s opener.
But the boss was keen to highlight the positives in her team's performance when speaking to VillaTV post-match.
“Proud of the players… I thought they were sensational," she said.
"We executed what we wanted to do and I feel like they deserve a lot better. I’m hugely proud of them.
“The reality is there’s one team that shouldn’t be down to 10 [players]… that’s a tough one.
"The character of this team, we talked about it last year and we’re talking about it again today.
"To go down to 10, to then stay in the game and try and win it is a testament to them.
"There’s an immense pride about them. This group’s got heart, it’s got desire. It’s everything that you want an Aston Villa player to be.
"We’re hurting… but if we continue in that way, we’ll be just fine.”
You can watch Carla's full interview below...
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