Aston Villa scored twice in two second-half minutes as they came from behind to beat Brighton in the Women’s Super League.
Rachel Daly headed Villa level and, 92 seconds later, top scorer Kirsty Hanson fired in from the edge of the penalty area.
The visitors had been gifted the lead at Villa Park when goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo passed the ball straight to Brighton midfielder Fuka Tsunoda, who finished confidently on first WSL start.
That gave Brighton a deserved lead at the end of a first half in which they were largely on the front foot, with right-winger Kiko Seike a constant threat.
However, Daly twice came close to equalising – first with thumping header against the crossbar, then hitting a post with a side-foot volley from Hanson’s cross at the end of swift counter-attack.
Villa took the game to Brighton after half-time and it was third time lucky for Daly as she got across the near post to glance Lucia Kendall’s free-kick into the far corner.
Before Brighton could respond, Natalia Arroyo’s side were at them again, with Hanson collecting Miri Taylor’s smart first-time pass just outside the penalty area and rifling a left-foot shot past Brighton keeper Sophie Baggaley.
It took until the last 10 minutes for Brighton to put Villa under any real pressure in their search for an equaliser, but the closest they came was Madison Haley’s header from Fran Kirby’s deflected cross.
Villa held on for a fourth league win of the season to move two points ahead of Brighton.
