Manager defends Kirsty Hanson after straight red card for a high challenge precedes injury-time defeat on opening day
A furious Aston Villa manager Carla Ward called for full-time referees in the Women’s Super League after Kirsty Hanson was sent off in the opening-day loss to Manchester United.
Scotland winger Hanson was shown a straight red card for a high challenge on Wales midfielder Hayley Ladd before Rachel Daly’s low strike put 10-player Villa ahead.
But Manchester United secured the win with Lucia Garcia’s poacher-like finish and Rachel Williams’s stoppage-time header.
Ward, with her young daughter alongside her during her post-match press conference, was picking her words carefully. She felt a body-check from Maya Le Tissier on Villa forward Ebony Salmon, which went unpunished, was “probably the clearest red card you’ll ever see”, before lamenting Hanson’s red card, adding: “She’s heartbroken.