Aston Villa manager Carla Ward is on the crest of a wave after her side knocked Manchester City out of the FA Cup at the Poundland Bescot Stadium in her 50th game as manager at the club.
Goals from a duo of Rachels: Corsie and Daly, secured the West Midlands outfit's place in the semi finals of the competition despite a scare from Denya Castellanos that sent the game to extra time.
The victory will be classed as one of the best nights in the club's history so far; with a mixture of recruitment, style of play, togetherness and quality coaching all adding together this campaign to form their best season since becoming a professional side.
Celebrating a milestone achievement in charge of the Villains, Ward said "I'm lost for words, only because this group continues to achieve and continues to prove people wrong. The relentless nature of the attitudes was unbelievable."
Her side now progress into the semi finals of the FA Cup, with the draw taking place on Tuesday morning.
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Villa "continue to improve"
Despite sitting fifth in the table, Villa still want to build and manager Ward explained that after the game.
She said "We spoke last week about the fact we're in fifth and we want to stay there. We want to raise levels and raise standards, which might sound crazy when we're doing as well as we are but it's about continuing to improve and ask more of each other every day."
They are now unbeaten in seven, a run that goes back to the end of January when Villa entered the FA Cup with an emphatic 11-0 demolition of AFC Fylde.
WIth only seven games left to play, including facing three of the top four in those fixtures, fifth is certainly an achieveable target for the FA Cup semi finalists who hold a six point gap over sixth placed Everton but the Toffees do have a game in hand.
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Tributes paid to the staff
After giving her team praise, the Villa boss paid plaudits to her first team staff with the work going into behind the scenes.
Speaking of her team, she said "This group are putting bodies on the line for each other and doing everything they can to get results, this result sums up this group of players."
On her staff, she added "The work that the staff put in behind the scenes has been sensational, the players delivering on the pitch - it's a collective effort and I'm proud of every single one of them."
In only their third season in the Women's Super League, Villa are set for their best finish and that is in no doubt down to the work that Ward's backroom team put in.
It was clear to see the togetherness of Villa's backroom team through the game at the Poundland Bescot Stadium with coach Luke Tisdale, formerly manager of Coventry City's u23 side for eight years who switched from sky blue to claret and blue in the summer of 2022, and the rest of the coaches and staff a tight knit group all right behind their manager.
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A loud home support was welcome
Even though the game was played in Walsall, a healthy contingent of home fans still attended and Ward was more than happy to laud praise on the Villa support.
"The fans have been nothing short of outstanding... they've been absolutely brilliant today. The numbers here today, it was one of our biggest attendances here, behind the goal you heard them for 120 minutes", Ward said.
And when speaking about the benefit from fans to the pitch, she added "That was great, that pulls the players through and they really played their part tonight, so we massively, massively thank them."
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Targets still to hit in league and cup
With a minimum of eight games to play across the WSL and FA Cup, Ward has set her sights high for some big performances to bring their good season to a close.
She reminded that "the season's not over, we've got seven games plus a semi final which we want to make into a final of course - what an unbelievable season that would be!"
And on the league, the manager said "We've still got ambitions to hold onto fifth, so there's still work to be done. Whilst I've given them two days off, which was probably the biggest cheer of the night - they deserved that, but it's about getting back to work"
Villa host Leicester City next Sunday as they get back to Women's Super League at Villa Park as part of their Women's Football Weekend celebrations with coverage of that game, all WSL games and some Championship games right here on VAVEL.