Aston Villa boss fumes at amount of injury time played in late defeat at Arsenal

16 October 2023 , 10:56

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Aston Villa manager Carla Ward (Image: Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)

Aston Villa manager Carla Ward labelled the amount injury time played in their gut wrenching defeat at Arsenal "ludicrous."

Twelve additional minutes were played at the Emirates on Sunday, during which Aston Villa's 1-0 lead was wiped out, with Katie McCabe and Alessia Russo striking to give Arsenal a 2-1 win. It follows a pattern of lengthy additional time been given in matches this season, which was also common at this summer's FIFA Women's World Cup.

Arsenal looked beaten heading into the additional period, but completed a dramatic turnaround in front of a jubilant Emirates Stadium. The result means Villa are still searching for their first points of the season, after also losing in injury time on the opening day against Manchester United.

This time around a head injury to Villa's Rachel Corsie did mean there was a noticeable stoppage in the second half, but Ward felt the 12 minutes signalled by the fourth official were excessive.

"Somebody tell me where that (12 minutes injury time) came from please,” said Ward "I actually don't know where that came from.

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"It’s not just today, it is consistent, I think Beardy (Matt Beard) spoke about it after our game with them last week where it was 10 minutes. Nothing happened for it to be 10 minutes.

"There were a few stoppages today, but 12 minutes is ludicrous. Sadly that is the way the game is going. But we've talked for a long time about player load and player welfare, as well as international breaks.

"We've both got a lot of internationals and I believe this will take its toll if this continues."

Despite the third straight loss, Ward was proud of her team's performance. Villa took the lead with their very first corner in the 25th minute, Maz Pacheco's excellent header stunning the Emirates.

And they would have held out for a famous win had they survived stoppage time. The Villa boss, who led them to a club record fifth-place finish last season, says

Aston Villa Head Coach Carla Ward

"It was a tough one to take. I'm proud of the performance, but it's a sucker punch. We wanted a whole hearted, Aston Villa performance off the ball and I thought the players gave that. I'm proud of them.

"Arsenal are a top, top team. I love to watch them, they have world class players. When you got hold that type of quality out for that long, you have to take a lot of heart from that.

"We need to do a little bit better on the ball. But we stopped attack after attack. We'll try and pick them up because we've got Tottenham next up. We have to try and get three points on the board - it's as simple as that."

Jack Lacey-Hatton