Aston Villa 5-0 Leicester – WSL: Player ratings as Daly & Lehmann braces sink Foxes

Aston Villa put relegation-battling Leicester City to the sword on Women’s Football Weekend, prevailing 5-0 in their WSL clash on Sunday.

The Foxes saw plenty of the ball when the game was tight at Villa Park but were unable to make their chances count as Carla Ward’s side continued their fine season, further cementing their position in fifth place.

The hosts threatened to take the lead with just over 90 seconds on the clock, with Kirsty Hanson slipping in Rachel Daly, but the forward could only find the side-netting from a tight angle.

Straight down the other end, an unmarked Sophie Howard nearly nodded Leicester into a surprise lead from a corner, but her free header on the stretch went wide.

Sam Tierney then had an effort cleared off the line in the moments that followed before Aileen Whelan thought she had broken the deadlock for the visitors, but the referee’s whistle was blown for a foul in the scramble which preceded her strike.

Villa took advantage of this early chaos and took the lead after six minutes. Kenza Dali roamed forward from midfield having taken the ball off of Daly and found the bottom corner from 20 yards.

Despite falling behind and sitting bottom of the table, Leicester still endeavoured to take the game to their high-flying hosts. Ashleigh Plumptre notably roamed forward and fired straight at Hannah Hampton following a decent spell of possession and pressing from the Foxes.

But despite that pressure, Villa added a second just after the half-hour mark against the run of play. Dali again drove at the Leicester defence and passed to Hanson to cross, with Alisha Lehmann coming inside and directing the ball past Janina Leitzig at the far post.

From the resulting kick-off, Villa won back possession and went close to scoring a third. A ricochet allowed Dali to sneak in behind a sleeping Leicester backline, with her volley skimming the crossbar on the way over.

On the stroke of half-time Daly made it three for Villa, robbing Howard of possession and calmly rolling the ball into the net.

After the break, Lehmann broke down the right and picked out Daly…