Barnet Ladies 0 - 2 Aston Villa Ladies
Barnet Ladies hosted Aston Villa at Underhill today and what was a tame first half soon erupted into a explosive affair that boiled over and saw some unsightly scenes for the home crowd.
A goal from Dani Petrovic and a penalty from Katie Wilkinson was enough to give Aston Villa the three points and push even closer to the promotion places in the FA Women's Premier League National Division.
But the win for Aston Villa was cast in the shadow of the last 15 minutes when a huge fight broke out after Barnet captain Danielle Murphy reacted badly to a challenge on her and although it wasn't much shock that Danielle Murphy was shown a straight red, there was some confusion over why Gemma Rudman was shown a straight red as well. As for Aston Villa the fact that only one of their players walked away with a yellow card proved a little unjustified.
That set the tempo for the final 10 minutes and Mark Sennett, the referee, was obviously struggling to control it and after what seemed a routine tactical block from Abbie Prosser was deemed more cynical by Sennett and pulled out a second yellow much to the bemusement of everyone.
The game started off a little tame with Barnet opting to change sides and start playing downhill, an advantage that is unusual to see on a League Two standard pitch. But Barnet were taking advantage of the slope and saw most of the possession in the first half.
Mark Sennett had a love affair with his whistle far too often in the first half opting to blow up on the softest of tackles, which started to grate on both sets of players, but none more so than the Barnet captain Danielle Murphy and eventually she saw yellow on 38 minutes after one too many moans.
"You three are killing the game!" ranted the Aston Villa coach just before half-time and that summed up the half with neither sides able to get any momentum going to really trouble either keeper, but Barnet were definitely the happier team going into the break.
But now Aston Villa were playing downhill and were taking full advantage of the slope in their favour with a few darting runs into the box by the impressive Emma Follis and Kelly Clarke.
On the 55th minute Aston Villa got their breakthrough finally when Dani Petrovic rose highest at the back post after a great delivery into the box from Folis to put the visitors ahead and 1-0 up.
Three minutes later it was the Follis and Clarke combination again that troubled Barnets defence when Aston Villa's number 11 managed to run with the ball past Jess Trimnell and find space and spotted the run of Follis with a beautiful low cross only for Alex Keown to get back just in time to stop a certain goal, something the Barnet left-back did all game.
Unfortunately the desperate defending from Barnet proved to be their catalyst on the 64th minute as Leanne Reidy brought down Clarke in the box and the referee had no choice to award a penalty, which was sublimely finished by, Aston Villa's number 9, Katie Wilkinson.
Barnet did have a few sniffs at goal with substitutes Chontele Lawrence and Holly Sandow impressing but were not clinical enough when they got the chance.
The game turned hostile on the 70th minute when a 50/50 challenge between Alex Keown of Barnet and Katie Wilkinson left Keown far worse off with screams that silenced the stands and players on the pitch. Tears could be heard from the left-back as she knew it was very bad and after five minutes of treatment on the field the stretcher was called and her right calf was bandaged up suggesting either an Achilles injury that will hopefully end up looking worse than it was.
Soon after that the game turned into a tough battling contest and eventually the challenges got out of hand with a tackle on Danielle Murphy stirring up a huge coming together which ended up with Danielle Murphy and Gemma Rudman being sent off, and Aston Villa being let off with a solitary yellow card.
As the game drew to a close Abbie Prosser was shown a very harsh second yellow card and even though Barnet were down to just 7 outfield players Aston Villa couldn't add to the lead and the referee decided against adding much time on probably for the best interest of the game.
Aston Villa did deserve the three points on the day as they were much more clinical infront of goal and made better use of the ball in the final third. Barnet however will have a week to get their heads back together and prepare for a tough test against Manchester City without potentially four first team starters.
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