Captain Anneka Nuttall did not want Watford Ladies’ goalkeeper Lucy Gillett to take the blame after Aston Villa beat them 2-0 in Women's Super League 2.

A howler from the Golden Girls’ stopper, as she failed to deal with a Beth Merrick cross, gifted Villa an opener after 35 minutes in a first half which the hosts had been starting to control of at Berkhamsted.

Tash Baptiste doubled Villa’s lead just before half time and this proved enough to earn the visitors only their second win in eight games.

Watford captain Nuttall gave her backing to Gillett and refused to lay blame on the goalkeeper.

“The problem as a goalkeeper is you’ve got 10 players out on the field and when they make mistakes, they don’t always get seen,” she said.

“But when a keeper in goal makes a mistake, everyone sees it.

“Lucy was absolutely gutted about it, but I had a word with her and told her to just carry on and I don’t think she should be put under the light for making a mistake.

“We were all over them, then a mistake happened, and mistakes do happen, our heads went down when they shouldn’t have. But we played until the end and didn’t give up.”

After a nervy opening 10 minutes, the Golden Girls began to find their stride and nearly went ahead in the 16th minute when Giulia Ferrandi’s long-range shot was tipped onto the bar by Grace Moloney.

Moments later Jordan Littleboy forced another good save from Moloney as her effort was tipped over.

On the half hour, Sarah Mayling hit the crossbar after the Villa midfielder made the most of a lapse in concentration from Nicole Pepper, but five minutes later, the visitors were ahead.

Merrick ran down the right wing and put a cross into the six-yard box which looked to be an easy grab for Gillett.

However, the keeper and her teammates were left stunned when she saw the ball spill out of her gloves and bounce into the net.

This saw momentum shift Villa’s way and Baptiste doubled the lead in the 45th minute with an excellent curling effort from just outside the box.

During a tamer second half, Baptiste had the best chances but was denied twice by Gillett, making amends for her earlier error.

The Villa striker should have done better with two other chances, but headed weakly from a Hannah George cross and failed to find the target after a spirited break by Nicola Potts.

Nuttall believed the final result, the Golden Girls' first loss at home in three games, was not a fair reflection on Watford’s performance, adding they will look to get back on track immediately.

“We had been gathering good form at home and we didn’t want to be knocked off it.

“We wanted to keep this as a solid platform and not let anyone takes points off us here.

“Unfortunately, that has happened today, but we will still look at it as 'you come here, you don’t take points off us'.”

Next up for Watford is a long trip to Durham on Sunday for a noon kick-off.

Watford Ladies: Gillett; Pepper, Jordinson, Baxter, Read; Nuttall (c), Mason, Ferrandi (Osborne-Ricketts 87); Littleboy, Davy, Kerr (Stanley 77). Subs not used: Tullett and Samuels.