Villa climbed up to 5th spot in the Women’s Super League table after their 4th win of the season, courtesy of a Rachel Daly hat-trick.
Ward was impressed with the England International’s performance.
“Absolutely [when asked about if it was Rachel Daly’s hat trick] if she heads it towards goal in the manner that she did, for me it’s a Rachel Daly hat trick, no ifs or buts”
There was some confusion about Daly’s second goal as it appeared to take a deflection off a Royal’s defender, however it was on target anyway.
Daly’s three goals on Sunday meant that she became the WSL’s joint top scorer on eight goals, tied with Manchester City’s Khadija Shaw.
Royal’s goalkeeper Jackie Burns was shown a straight red card for a rather cynical challenge on Kirsty Hanson, which meant the forward had to be subbed off due to injury.
The Villans’ manager touched briefly on the Scot’s injury after the match:
“We’ll probably have to get a scan tomorrow and have a look, but it didn’t look great, we’ve got a ridiculously long injury list at the moment, which we could do with shortening, so we just have to hope and pray that it’s not serious.”
Hanson’s forced departure from the match at the weekend added to Ward’s concerning list absentees, with the manager admitting they only had three fit players among the substitutes.
The Scot joins Chantelle Boyce-Hlorkah, Simone Magill, Meaghan Sargeant, Ruesha Littlejohn and Evie Rabjohn among players who are currently injured and unavailable for selection.
However, goalkeeper Hannah Hampton returned to the matchday squad, starting on the bench after recovering from a minor surgery.
“The fact you’re asking shows Leaty’s done really well and I think that’s an important thing to mention”, when asked about competition for places.
“Hannah is an exceptional young keeper, so is Leaty, you know Leaty has taken her opportunity whilst Hannah has been away, and Hannah has actually only trained for a couple of days this week so it was probably a bit too soon for her.”
The Villans’ boss confirmed that Hampton would feature against Durham Women in the FA WSL cup next weekend, one of the few changes she can afford to make.
