Reading 0-5 Aston Villa: Rachel Daly's hat-trick leaves hosts bottom of WSL
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WSL: The Women's Football Show analyse Rachel Daly's hat-trick against Reading
Rachel Daly scored a brilliant hat-trick for Aston Villa as Reading remain rooted to the bottom of the Women's Super League after being dismantled at home.
Daly was left completely unmarked to convert Kirsty Hanson's low cross from the left in the 14th minute.
The England international then turned provider, playing in Alisha Lehmann to double Villa's lead on 42 minutes before squaring for Hanson to tap into an empty net two minutes later.
Daly added her second from Kenza Dali's cut-back early in the second half and ran on to Mayumi Pacheco's perfectly-weighted through ball to complete her hat-trick in the 63rd minute.
The treble takes Daly to 20 WSL goals for the season and ahead of Manchester City's Khadija Shaw in the race for the golden boot.
Victory solidifies Carla Ward's side in fifth place, while Reading stay bottom of the pile, two points from safety with two games to play.
Huge setback for Reading before relegation showdown
After nine years in the WSL, Reading are on the brink of relegation to the Championship.
Their home form is what has kept them afloat in the relegation battle, and while a loss to an Aston Villa side positioning themselves to challenge the big four next season may not be a huge surprise, the manner of it will be particularly dispiriting.
Throughout their struggles this term, Kelly Chambers' team have been competitive in the vast majority of matches.
Defeats have often been by the odd goal with 4-0 losses at Manchester United and Arsenal six months apart the anomalies.
For the first 15 minutes against Villa, it looked like that would remain the case. Even after Daly opened the scoring, the home side responded well and barely two minutes later Sanne Troelsgaard struck the post.
However, Villa began to take control and Reading were floored by the second goal. A self-inflicted third after losing the ball playing out from a goal kick all but ended the game as a contest with a minute left in the first half.
Soon after the break, Jade Moore fired Reading's best chance of the game over the bar and Villa quickly went down the other end and added a fourth.
Reading barely laid a glove on Villa, who were able to carve them open at will, and the home side can be glad that their goal difference did not take even more of a battering.
With title-chasing Chelsea lined up for the last match of the season, Reading's hopes of survival now look to rest on the outcome of next Sunday's visit to Tottenham.
Anything less than a win and, given their inferior goal difference, Reading surely will be facing the drop.
After such a humbling defeat, Chambers has a week to pick her team up for their most important match of the season.