Women's football news
The Rooks came back from 2-0 down thanks to two Katie Rood strikes at the end of the first half and then deep into stoppage time at the end of the match.
Villa started very quickly and took an early lead in the fourth minute, after good work from Sophie Haywood down the left as she played the ball across the face of goal for Asmita Ale to slide into the net. Minutes later, Jodie Hutton picked up a loose pass, but her effort was deflected for a corner. The resulting corner came to nothing.
Aston Villa then had an appeal for a penalty as Haywood went down in the area, but the referee waved away the protests.
With half an hour gone, Haywood gets in behind on the right wing, but her effort is well saved by the feet of Faye Baker.
But Hutton made it two, as she was allowed too much time on the ball and her effort flew into the top corner.
Right on the stroke of half time Lewes pulled one back, as Rachel Panting played it out wide to Rood and she cut inside and hit an effort, which beat the ‘keeper off the inside of her far post.
The Rooks came out the quicker in the second half and just five minutes in, Sammy Quayle made a terrific run down the right wing and played it to Charlotte Owen, but her effort was straight at the ‘keeper.
King and Panting then played a lovely one two and but King’s effort flashed just wide of the post.
In the 66th minute, Rood got in behind on the wing and she cut the ball back to substitute Charley Boswell, who fired her effort wide of the goal.
Then deep into second half stoppage time Lewes dramatically levelled the score, after Sarah Kempson got in behind on the right wing and a slick lay-off off to Rood, saw the New Zealand international strike the ball into the bottom corner of the net. Moments later, the final whistle blew.
Katie Rood received her MVP award for two crucial goals, but special mention should also go to Katie McIntyre for a superb performance at the heart of the Lewes defence.
After the game, manager Fran Alonso talked about the performance: “We wanted to win, we set up to win and we have been doing very well for the last five weeks, playing decent and we were very high in confidence. But we started the game and straight away we concede a goal and we dropped our heads a little bit. We lost our faith in playing out and we started going more direct, but thank god we changed it and started committing a little more in the game. I think we were very comfortable in possession, they are a very good team, a physical team, technically very good. We showed the courage to score just before half-time and give us a bit of confidence. Then in the second half we kept trying and we could have scored two or three, but finally we got the goal I think we deserve, so overall maybe we could say we deserved a little more.”
Next (and final) home match:
28th April, 1pm KO
Lewes v Sheffield United
Tickets are cheaper online, right here