A furious Aston Villa manager Carla Ward called for full-time referees in the Women’s Super League after Kirsty Hanson was sent off in the opening-day loss to Manchester United.
Scotland winger Hanson was shown a straight red card for a high challenge on Wales midfielder Hayley Ladd before Rachel Daly’s low strike put 10-player Villa ahead.
But Manchester United secured the win with Lucia Garcia’s poacher-like finish and Rachel Williams’s stoppage-time header.
Ward, with her young daughter alongside her during her post-match press conference, was picking her words carefully. She felt a body-check from Maya Le Tissier on Villa forward Ebony Salmon, which went unpunished, was “probably the clearest red card you’ll ever see”, before lamenting Hanson’s red card, adding: “She’s heartbroken.
“Look, Kirsty Hanson is the least likely person to hurt anybody. It was rash, in terms of the decision – the ref has gone to her pocket before the ball has even bounced. It was a poor one.”
But Ward, whose side finished fifth last term in the WSL, which has part-time officials, added: “I will never blame the officials because I do believe the powers that be need to help them. They need to make our officials in this league full-time, so it’s not on them out there today, it’s on the powers that be. I’m bored of talking about it.”
England striker Daly had earlier seen a looping effort clip the top of the crossbar for the hosts, who were backed by a new club-record home crowd of 12,533 at Villa Park, but the visitors created the better of the chances.
The build-up to the match was dominated by discussions around Villa’s new wet-look kit, after Telegraph Sport revealed that players from both the men’s and women’s squads at the club had complained to senior club staff about their shirts weighing them down when they were wet with sweat.
The issue remains unresolved while kit manufacturer Castore seek to find short-term and long-term solutions. Amid slightly cooler temperatures in the West Midlands on Sunday, it is understood none of the Villa players asked to change shirts at half-time and they all continued wearing the kit they had worn in the first 45 minutes.
Villa captain Rachel Corsie, when asked about the issue, said her team’s only focus had been on the match. “Obviously there has been a lot of talk about that this week but when you get here and it’s the start of the season everyone is buzzing, it’s been a long break and there’s just a huge buzz that we’re under way. It [the kit issue] is being dealt with, yes. The club have been really supportive.”
Manchester United manager Marc Skinner, whose side finished second last term in their best-ever campaign, praised the impact of his new summer signings in their victory, saying: “We’ve had five days together as complete sessions. From my perspective that is a wonderful performance considering we haven’t had much time together. Aston Villa can take points off anyone.”
