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 her 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 a 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 the break 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 final 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 leaving Arroyo pleased with the response from her side to going a goal down.

She said: "We had more chances than them and we could have scored goals but we were paying the consequences of a mistake.

"It is about what you do after a mistake. We want to be brave, take this risk, the players were showing bravery in and out of possession and we were able to build three important points."

The first half of the season was one of frustration for both sides, with inconsistency preventing either team from pushing on to challenge the big four sides.

This match offered a reasonable example of why, with Brighton struggling to create any chances of note despite a strong first-half showing before dropping off in the second.

Meanwhile, Villa had the odd moment of encouragement in the first half without showing the intensity that ultimately won them the game early in the second.

It is no surprise that two sides firmly stuck in mid-table are flawed, but with the talent both have in their squads, they are striving for better.

A timely win after the winter break is just the boost Villa needed, especially following a heavy loss at Manchester City last time out, and the hope will be that it provides a springboard for the second half of the campaign.

With Hanson maintaining her pre-Christmas form and Daly back among the goals after a slow start to the season, there is every reason to believe that Villa can, at the very least, find more consistency between now and May.

"We are showing the capacity to grow in games. We needed the win because we were chasing them [Brighton] and now we are a little bit higher," added Arroyo.

"We needed to start [after the winter break] with this type of performance where we are not necessarily dominating all parts of the game but we are showing mentality and ability to suffer as well."

Attention turns to the FA Cup for both teams next weekend.

Brighton host WSL2 side Nottingham Forest on 18 January (13:00 GMT), while Villa travel to reigning European champions Arsenal for a 14:00 kick-off.

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