Aston Villa reached the knockout stages of the Hong Kong Soccer Sevens before bowing out of the tournament on Sunday, with Charlie Pavey bagging an impressive seven goals during the competition.
The Young Lions, who were crowned champions two years ago before reaching a second successive final last season, finished top of Group A with three wins from three matches on Saturday without even conceding a goal.
However, their cup journey came to an end in the quarter-finals as they suffered a 2-1 defeat to eventual finalists Brighton & Hove Albion, who triumphed in last year’s final between the two teams.
Villa subsequently entered into the shield semi-finals, competed between all four losing quarter-finalists, but bowed out 2-1 against Hong Kong Football Club.
Villa opened their tournament with a 4-0 win over Macau FA, Pavey bagging a hat-trick while Travis Patterson was also on target.
The club’s second match in Group A was settled by Pavey yet again as Villa narrowly triumphed 1-0 against HKFC Captain’s Select.
The youngsters wrapped up their group stage campaign with another impressive showing, recording a 4-0 success over Australia’s Western United FC thanks to Ewan Simpson’s brace and further strikes from Pavey and Thierry Katsukunya.
Pavey bagged his sixth goal of the tournament in the quarter-finals against the Seagulls but it was not enough to prevent an exit from the cup competition, before again getting on the scoresheet in another 2-1 reverse in the shield semi-finals as Villa’s 2025 journey came to an end.
