A seventieth-minute effort from Claudia Walker after an impressive assist from substitute Lucy Whipp was enough to separate Birmingham from their local rivals in a tie that failed to ignite in the first half.
Coming into the first ever Second City derby in the WSL, Aston Villa were looking to build on their first win of the season last week away to Brighton while Birmingham looked to strengthen their status in midtable.
Birmingham were facing an uphill battle from the offset as they would be forced to play this game with only two available substitutes after a series of injuries for Carla Ward’s side.
The first twenty minutes were a predictably even affair with neither team creating many clear cut chances. Villa would look the more threatening to open the scoring however as some shaky Birmingham defending led to the Villains getting into some dangerous positions.
The Blues would settle into the game a bit more as the half wore on, forcing a couple of corners but could not challenge Lisa Weiss in the Villa net.
Villa would finish the half with a free kick down the wing that would find Stine Larsen at the back post but her header would fly well wide as the half would end goalless.
Aston Villa would get their first chance of the second half in the same way they ended the first, a free kick swung towards the back post which would find Marisa Ewers who volleyed wide.
Soon after, Birmingham would make one of their only two available substitutions for the game as Lucy Whipp replaced Chloe McCarron. Villa would make their first substitution on the hour mark as Jodie Hutton was replaced by lifelong Villa fan Emma Follis.
Birmingham would finally break the deadlock twenty minutes from time as Lucy Whipp was just able to keep the ball in bounds and sent the ball into the danger area where an attempted headed clearance was met by Claudia Walker.
Walker would take a touch to control the ball and then strike with power and would hit the back of the net after rattling the crossbar to send a bolt of lightning through the tie.
The visitors would make their second substitution with ten minutes left in the match as Emma Kelly was replaced by Destiney Toussaint.
Villa had a chance to equalise as Emma Follis was clear down the wing and had space and time to deliver the ball into the box. Her cross was too close to Birmingham keeper Hannah Hampton however and she would simply pluck it out of the air.
Throughout the tie, Villa arguably got into the more threatening positions but their accuracy left a lot to be desired. They largely struggled to hit the target and Hampton never looked challenged in between the sticks.
Birmingham looked much more disciplined and despite the lack of reinforcements, they battled to the end and the assist by Lucy Whipp was a testament to that.
The tie would end one-nil to Birmingham, their third win in four games and brings them up into sixth place, while Aston Villa now have four losses in their five WSL games this season.
Birmingham will look to continue their hot form in their next WSL game away to Arsenal while Villa will try to stop the rot against Manchester United.
The Inbound Observer 