Georgia Stanway brace sees Man City kick off new season with victory at Villa
The 2016 champions were given a helping hand by their hosts as City started with a win.
Georgia Stanway scored twice as Manchester City began the new FA Women’s Super League season with a 2-0 victory at newly-promoted Aston Villa.
Gareth Taylor saw his side gifted the early initiative in his first game as City boss as defensive errors by Villa handed the visitors a two-goal lead inside the first 22 minutes.
City were almost ahead inside the opening 60 seconds at Villa Park but Sam Mewis headed wide after Stanway’s shot had been blocked.
The same thing happened again shortly afterwards but this time Stanway was off target with her shot.
However, it was 2-0 after 22 minutes following another mistake. Goalkeeper Sian Rogers’ ball out to Marisa Ewers was short and Stanway again capitalised, blocking the clearance into the net from close range.
Stanway missed a golden opportunity for her hat-trick when she blazed high and wide with Rogers beaten.
Rogers made amends for her error for the second goal with a fine second-half performance, producing good saves to deny Janine Beckie, Stanway and substitute Ellen White to keep Villa in the match but the debutants finished empty-handed despite their improvement.
