DASHING DOZEN DOES IT FOR VILLA

An incredible 12-match winning streak swept Aston Villa to the Northern Division title as Manchester City, the early season front runners, fell away to miss out on promotion.

For the first five months of the campaign City looked certain to finish as champions after winning their first eight matches to sit 10 points clear of second-placed Coventry City.

Meanwhile Villa had struggled before the turn of the year, taking just six points from their opening six outings. They had two games in hand on Manchester City but, lagging a massive 18 points behind the leaders, a title challenge seemed way out of their reach.

But as City faltered so the Villans hit 2011 running. Their dashing dozen of straight wins to the end of the campaign crucially included a 2-1 home win against Manchester City and a 1-0 victory at Coventry, the team that in the end proved the only real challengers to Villa for the title.

Coventry were in with a chance to snatch the title right up to Villa’s final match of the season. But a 2-1 home win against Leeds City Vixens, with both goals coming from leading scorer Carly Davies, saw the Villans home by a single point. 

Reflecting on the campaign, Davies - 12 of whose 14 goals came in the title-clinching winning streak - said: “I really enjoyed that season. Stuart Wilson (manager) just let me be myself and that’s why I think I had such a good season in a very good team.

“We had some fine players, like Mel Lawley and Emma Follis, and we had youngsters like Katie Wilkinson and Aiofe Mannion coming through the ranks. There was an excellent group dynamic, we enjoyed our training sessions as well as playing in matches and it all came together for us.

“The games against Coventry were always really competitive, Man City too. I enjoyed those games. I was a player that played on the edge, a bit of a hot head, so I probably wasn’t the nicest player to play against.

“But I just loved playing, and that game against Leeds Vixens when we made sure of winning the league was a fantastic occasion for us - and we had some good celebrations that night too!”

Over the course of the season Coventry had been the division’s most consistent side, losing fewer games than anyone else and in the final reckoning falling just short of Villa.

Coventry’s consistency at least earned them a deserved promotion to the National Division, while at the other end of the Northern Division table Newcastle United and bottom team Curzon Ashton fell through the relegation trap door.

It had been a tense survival battle, with Curzon’s fate sealed when they lost their final game of the campaign 3-0 at home to Newcastle. That saw the Magpies climb off the bottom at Curzon’s expense and, with their last game at home to survival rivals Preston North End, safety was on the agenda.

They had drawn 2-2 at PNE in October, and another draw - or even a 1-0 defeat - would have seen them retain their Northern Division status. But instead they went down 3-1 and subsequently went down on goal difference.

FINAL TABLE

RESULTS

22/8/2010
Derby County 0-0 Curzon Ashton
Leeds City Vixens 0-1 Newcastle United
Manchester City 3-1 Coventry City
Rochdale 2-3 Leicester City

5/9/2010
Coventry City 5-2 Rochdale
Curzon Ashton 1-3 Aston Villa
Leicester City 1-2 Manchester City
Newcastle United 1-4 Derby County
Preston North End 3-3 Leeds City Vixens

19/9/2010
Coventry City 2-2 Newcastle United
Derby County 1-2 Leeds City Vixens
Rochdale 5-2 Preston North End

26/9/2010
Curzon Ashton 0-4 Coventry City
Leeds City Vixens 4-0 Aston Villa
Leicester City 1-2 Derby County
Newcastle United 0-2 Rochdale
Preston North End 0-1 Manchester City

17/10/2010
Aston Villa 0-2 Coventry City

24/10/2010
Coventry City 0-5 Derby County
Leeds City Vixens 2-8 Leicester City
Manchester City 2-1 Aston Villa
Preston North End 2-2 Newcastle United

31/10/2010
Derby County 1-2 Preston North End
Newcastle United 0-4 Manchester City
Rochdale 6-3 Leeds City Vixens

7/11/2010
Aston Villa 5-1 Newcastle United
Leeds City Vixens 0-4 Manchester City
Leicester City 1-1 Coventry City
Preston North End 1-0 Curzon Ashton
Rochdale 2-3 Derby County

14/11/2010
Coventry City 4-1 Leeds City Vixens
Derby County 1-0 Aston Villa
Leicester City 5-1 Preston North End
Manchester City 3-1 Rochdale
Newcastle United 3-3 Curzon Ashton

16/1/2011
Derby County 1-6 Leicester City
Manchester City 3-2 Curzon Ashton

23/1/2011
Curzon Ashton 2-3 Derby County
Manchester City 0-3 Leeds City Vixens
Newcastle United 1-3 Aston Villa

30/1/2011
Aston Villa 3-0 Derby County

13/2/2011
Aston Villa 2-1 Manchester City
Leeds City Vixens 2-2 Curzon Ashton

6/3/2011
Aston Villa 1-0 Leicester City
Curzon Ashton 1-2 Manchester City
Leeds City Vixens 4-2 Preston North End
Newcastle United 0-5 Coventry City

13/3/2011
Derby County 1-0 Manchester City
Leicester City 1-0 Newcastle United
Preston North End 0-5 Coventry City
Rochdale 1-4 Aston Villa

20/3/2011
Curzon Ashton 0-4 Leicester City
Preston North End 0-0 Derby County
Rochdale 7-3 Newcastle United

23/3/2011
Preston North End 3-0 Rochdale

24/3/2011
Coventry City 0-1 Aston Villa

27/3/2011
Coventry City 2-1 Curzon Ashton
Derby County 1-2 Newcastle United
Leeds City Vixens 0-1 Rochdale
Leicester City 2-3 Aston Villa
Manchester City 2-0 Preston North End

30/3/2011
Curzon Ashton 2-1 Leeds City Vixens

3/4/2011
Aston Villa 4-0 Preston North End
Curzon Ashton 2-0 Rochdale
Leeds City Vixens 2-3 Coventry City
Manchester City 1-1 Derby County
Newcastle United 1-2 Leicester City

7/4/2011
Rochdale 0-3 Manchester City

10/4/2011
Leeds City Vixens 3-0 Derby County
Leicester City 2-0 Curzon Ashton
Manchester City 4-0 Newcastle United
Preston North End 0-3 Aston Villa
Rochdale 2-3 Coventry City

12/4/2011
Curzon Ashton 4-2 Preston North End

14/4/2011
Coventry City 2-1 Leicester City
Rochdale 2-2 Curzon Ashton

17/4/2011
Aston Villa 1-0 Curzon Ashton
Coventry City 2-1 Manchester City
Derby County 3-2 Rochdale
Newcastle United 1-0 Leeds City Vixens
Preston North End 1-3 Leicester City

24/4/2011
Aston Villa 4-1 Rochdale
Coventry City 3-0 Preston North End
Curzon Ashton 0-3 Newcastle United
Leicester City 6-0 Leeds City Vixens

1/5/2011
Aston Villa 2-1 Leeds City Vixens
Leicester City 11-0 Rochdale
Newcastle United 1-3 Preston North End

3/5/2011
Derby County 0-1 Coventry City

8/5/2011
Manchester City 1-2 Leicester City

NOTE OF NAME CHANGES:

Coventry City became Coventry United in 2015
Preston North End became Fylde in 2016