Best WSL finish for Albion despite final-day defeat

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Report and reaction as Albion finish the campaign with a 3-1 defeat against Aston Villa.

Bruce Talbot

2025-05-10T14:15+01:00

Nikita Parris scored her 13th goal of the season in Albion's defeat at Villa Park. 📷 Kyle Hemsley.

Albion lost their final game of the season but finished fifth – the best in the club’s WSL history.

Aston Villa led 2-0 at the break thanks to Ebony Salmon and Rachel Daly but Albion were the more threatening side at the start of the second half. Kiko Seike and substitute Fran Kirby were both denied by the post in the same attack before Maz Pacheco stretched Villa’s lead with 16 minutes to go.

Albion deservedly got one back in stoppage time though, thanks to Nikita Parris's 13th goal of the season.

Bruna Vilamala brings the ball under control. 📷 Kyle Hemsley.

Albion had an early opportunity when Bruna Vilamala headed Seike’s cross over but Villa went in front after just five minutes. Salmon picked up possession just inside Albion’s half and outpaced three defenders before finding the bottom corner with a right-foot shot from just inside the box. A fine individual goal.

It unsettled Albion but they began to threaten again with Michelle Agyemang their main threat. A well-worked move down the right ended with Agyemang trying a back heel but it was too close to keeper Sabrina D'Angelo.

Agyemang headed a corner over but was also booked before Villa doubled their lead just before the break. Ex-Seagull Katie Robinson’s pass found Chasity Grant and her cut-back was expertly finished by Rachel Daly from ten yards.

Kiko Seike assesses her options. 📷 Kyle Hemsley.

Agyemang came off at the break with Seike switching to the left flank and Albion began the second half positively. Parris, a threat when she picked up the ball deep and ran at Villa, saw a shot deflected into D’Angelo’s grateful grasp before Jill Baijings produced a brilliant tackle to dispossess Vilamala when she was lining up a shot at goal.

Salmon forced Sophie Baggaley to tip over her 20-yard shot but Albion were pressing for a goal and were twice denied by the post in a matter of seconds. Seike’s shot struck the left-hand upright and substitute Fran Kirby beat D’Angelo with the rebound but it came back out off the inside of the far upright before Villa cleared.

Marit Auee breaks forward in the second half. 📷 Kyle Hemsley.

It was against the run of play when Villa stretched their lead with 16 minutes to go. Albion failed to clear a cross from the left which Guro Bergsvand and Caitlin Hayes attacked and the loose ball was recycled to Pacheco who thrashed the ball into the roof of the net from 15 yards.

Albion deserved a goal and it came in stoppage time. D'Angelo blocked Seike's shot but Parris latched onto the loose ball on the right-hand side of the box and her volley had too much power for D'Angelo.

In the closing stages Pauline Bremer and Dejana Stefanovic had come on to make their final Albion appearances and after the final whistle there was an ovation from the travelling fans for them and the rest of the squad to acknowledge their efforts at the end of a historical campaign.

Albion: Baggaley, Bergsvand ©, Hayes (Stefanovic 80), Auee (Bremer 80), Seike, Symonds, Vilamala (Kirby 62), Olislagers, Cankovic (Rayner 80), Parris, Agyemang (McLauchlan 45).

Reaction: Dario Vidosic and Maisie Symonds