Manchester City dig deep to deny Villa in WSL after Lauren Hemp’s double

Lauren Hemp scored two quickfire goals to earn Manchester City a comeback victory against Aston Villa, securing three points that keeps Gareth Taylor’s side on Chelsea’s coattails in second at the business end of the Women’s Super League.

City had been trailing to Danielle Turner’s improvised finish in the seventh minute, but from that point on the hosts dominated. Khadija Shaw, Jill Roord and Chloe Kelly all had chances to level before the break but Villa were able to hang on to go in ahead.

It was not until just after the hour mark that City were able to make their dominance count but when they did it was decisive. First, Hemp got on the end of a Kelly cross to beat Daphne van Domselaar, then – just four minutes later – the England international was on hand to turn the ball home after Alex Greenwood headed a corner across goal.

Hemp would have had a hat-trick were it not for an excellent save from Van Domselaar when the Lioness got on the end of another dangerous cross as City were able to close out the game comfortably.

“They were both tap-ins really,” said Hemp of her two goals when speaking to Sky Sports after the match. “[The first] was a great cross from Chloe. I very rarely get headed goals, but it was nice – I felt like I couldn’t miss.

“Then Alex put it on a plate for me. For me it’s about being clinical and composed in front of goal because that’s when I’m at my best.

“I’m around some world-class players who put it on a plate for me, which is a bonus. It’s very rare I score a ‘worldy’ – apart from the last couple of weeks – but it’s nice to get a goal whenever I can. It was important that I got that because, obviously, we were 1-0 down.

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“The belief we had going into the changing room [at half-time], we knew it wasn’t over and that if we played our best football we would come back and beat them – which is what we did.”