Off the ball

This is about as close as Sara Day captain of Aston Villa Ladies got to the ball in a match held recently against Bayern Munich Ladies to mark the 20th anniversary of the clubs' European Cup Final tussle.

Like their male counterparts, Villa scored first, but unlike the men - for whom one was enough - the women then conceded no fewer than 14 goals in a match sponsored by local law firm The Wilkes Partnership.

Anna is pictured (left) with Wilkes' managing partner Anna Dunford (centre) and Bayern captain Tanja Worle (right).

Bayern is apparently one of the best women's teams in Europe, packed full of internationals, while Villa just mirrored the performance of the men's team this season.

As a rare example of Germans getting the better of English solicitors (hardly a footballing boast, but we take what we can get), we must also report that the vice-president of Villa Ladies, Daniel Jones, is a solicitor.

'Scoring first seemed to annoy them,' he told Obiter.