Aston Villa boss Gemma Davies has highlighted the resilience of goalkeeper Sian Rogers after she recovered from a challenging first half to impress in the second period against Manchester City at Villa Park this afternoon.
Villa lost their debut match in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League 2-0 with the visitors being gifted both goals inside a frantic first 22 minutes.
Goalkeeper Rogers will have been disappointed with both goals conceded while her defensive colleagues were arguably equally as much to blame on a frustrating afternoon for the 2019/2020 FA Women’s Championship title-winners.
Once Villa edged out their early nerves and settled into the pace of Barclays FA Women’s Super League football, they began to become much more comfortable in the game. Goalkeeper Rogers particularly impressed in the second period, making amends for her disappointing first half by pulling off a string of top class saves.
When speaking to FA Women’s Super League Full-Time in the post-match press conference, Villa boss Davies hailed the player’s resilience.
“She is a real talent” said the Villa boss. “One thing she does well is self-correct herself, she is very resilient.
“She came out for the second half and put in a tremendous performance and pulled off some great saves that ultimately kept us in the game.
“It will be a game that she will reflect on but she will come back stronger from it.”
Other than the individual errors which saw Villa punished, they matched Manchester City for large parts of the game and manager Davies went on to express her delight at the way that her side represented themselves in their first top flight appearance.
She added “It was a disappointing first 15 minutes, there was a lot of nervous energy going into our opening game in the Super League at Villa Park, it was a big setting and a huge occasion. In the first 15 minutes you saw that.
“I felt as though we grew into the game and the reactions of the players were superb.
“As first games go, I am really pleased.”
Aston Villa’s tough introduction to top flight football continues next weekend with a trip to Reading before they take on big-spending Everton at home in early October.