Aston Villa Women 1-1 Birmingham City Women: Harviken strike not enough as Blues snatch late leveller before Villa win it on penalties
Aston Villa Women needed a penalty shootout to see off local rivals Birmingham City Women at Keys Park, winning 6-5 from the spot after a 1-1 draw in normal time in the WSL Players Cup.
It looked for a long time as though Villa would see the game out comfortably at 1-0, but a stoppage-time equaliser from the visitors forced the tie into penalties, where Villa eventually came out on top.
Substitute Mathilde Harviken broke the deadlock for the hosts, coming off the bench to make an instant impact with a goal in the 69th minute to put Aston Villa in front. Villa had made a triple change just before the hour mark, with Harviken, Océane Deslandes and Lucia Kendall all introduced, and it was Harviken who struck within minutes of entering the action.
Birmingham, who had made wholesale changes of their own at half-time and brought on five substitutes in total, kept plugging away and were rewarded deep into added time. Martha Harris popped up with a dramatic leveller in the 90th minute plus four added minutes, snatching a point from the game and forcing extra spot-kicks to settle the tie.
With the scores level after 90 minutes, the match went straight to a penalty shootout, and it was Aston Villa who held their nerve, converting enough spot-kicks to edge out Birmingham 6-5 in the shootout and claim the extra point on offer for a cup victory.
There was a late flashpoint before the final whistle, with Birmingham's Marie Levasseur, who had come on as a substitute, booked in the 88th minute - the only card of the match.
The result means Aston Villa sit third in the WSL Players Cup standings having won three, drawn one and lost none of their four group games, while Birmingham remain down in tenth, with one win and two defeats to show from their four outings so far. In terms of their recent form in the Women's League Cup, Villa's last four reads WWWD, while Birmingham have gone LLW across their last three in the competition.
Goals at either end summed up a game that swung late on - Harviken's introduction proving decisive before Birmingham's resilience earned them a way back in. In the end, though, it was Aston Villa's composure from twelve yards that made the difference, seeing them home with the win in the shootout at Keys Park.
Written with the help of AI, using the match facts and the headlines from the publishers credited above. Each point links to the original report — tap the source name to read it in full.
