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Villa 2-2 Spurs | Robert’s verdict: “It shows good character”

Sun 29 September 2024, 20:30|Tottenham Hotspur

Robert Vilahamn was pleased with the character in his squad to earn a point at Aston Villa but felt there could have been more from performance on Sunday afternoon.

Despite a bright start from the hosts at Villa Park, Eveliina Summanen grabbed her first goal of the new campaign as she converted from the penalty spot, after Drew Spence was adjudged to have been brought down by Paula Tomas, to hand us the lead at the break.

There’s no doubting we faced plenty of pressure from the home side in the second half, Rachel Daly going close on numerous occasions, before they eventually found the leveller through Adriana Leon on 78 minutes and, then with two minutes left on the clock, Daly’s looping header switched the scoreline into Villa’s advantage.

It’s a tough away day against a tough opponent and we manage to get a point, four points from our first two games.

Robert Vilahamn

However, with nine minutes indicated by the fourth official, we pushed for an equaliser and, in the sixth minute of injury-time, Bethany England headed home Amanda Nilden’s cross to net her first goal of the 2024/25 campaign and earn a valuable point on the road in the Barclays Women's Super League.

Speaking to SPURSPLAY after the game, Robert said: “I don’t think the performance was the best. We didn’t nail it when in possession, gave the ball away too easily and we needed to defend quite a bit.

“I must say Aston Villa is a really good team, I feel they have some good players as well, so it’s a hard away game and to come back from when they scored those two goals shows good character. It’s kind of taking steps anyway even if we weren’t happy with the performance.

“We have scored six goals in two games and we want to be a goalscoring team, it shows development from last season but it also shows that we still have a lot of development to do. It’s a tough away day against a tough opponent and we manage to get a point, four points from our first two games, so it’s better than last season.”

Watch - Vilahamn's honest reflection on Villa draw