Everton Women beat Aston Villa 3-1 on Saturday to maintain their unbeaten pre-season record.

It was a first away match for Willie Kirk's team, who made the trip to the Banks's Stadium.

Villa’s resilience denied the visitors any opportunity to dictate the flow of the game and both sides enjoyed strong early spells of possession.

But it was Everton who found the breakthrough before the half-hour mark.

Gabby George’s inswinger found Claire Emslie inside the box and she headed past Hannah Hampton to give her side the lead.

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The Blues could have doubled their advantage moments later when Toni Duggan cut the ball back to Izzy Christiansen on the edge of the area.

The England international curled a shot towards the left-hand side of goal but the Villa goalkeeper stretched to deny the midfielder.

Into the second half and Everton suffered an early setback.

Four minutes after the restart, Ramona Petzelberger latched onto an attempted clearance and fired the ball into the top-right corner past substitute Sandy MacIver.

Kirk’s side got themselves back in front when George was fouled inside the box and the referee pointed to the spot.

After being denied in the first half, Christiansen stepped up and slotted the ball into the right side of goal, Hampton diving in the opposite direction.

Everton rediscovered their flow after regaining the lead and got their third after 65 minutes.

Excellent link-up play along the right-hand side saw Duggan slip through Christiansen and she played a brilliant low ball into the area.

Substitute Grace Clinton was there to get on the end of it and tapped it into the net.

Focus now turns to Scotland as the squad travels north for a training camp before playing Hibernian next weekend for the team’s final match of pre-season.

Then the Blues will welcome Manchester City to Goodison Park on Saturday 4 September with tickets available now.