Women's football news
Written by: Jack
Scott Booth was left frustrated by a last-minute equaliser from Durham last Sunday but takes positives from the performance.
“I just felt like the first half we allowed them to let the game pass us by. First-half I think we were still the better team, but we just didn’t do the things we worked on in training particularly well.
“We didn’t create enough, as much as we’d have liked, between the way that Durham played and the conditions, we weren’t able to do enough.
“That was the talk at half time, about making sure in possession we tidy up our pass detail in the final third, and I think we came out much better.
“We were much more aggressive going forward, put them under more pressure, got the goal, and then I think after we scored, we looked like we were looking for a change.
“The game then went a bit flat again and my intention was to try and win the game, so I made positive changes, bringing Reanna and Anna on.
“But that didn’t materialise as much as we’d have liked and we got sucker punched at the end when we should have been able to see the game out.
“Durham are like that, that’s the way they play, they stay in the game, they battle for everything, they fight, they scrap, they’re physical, and in the end we couldn’t hang on.
“We’re also left frustrated again by some poor decisions; the pulling of the shirt on Hack was just crazy, she’s got her hands up to remonstrate to the referee and I could see it from the bench, it was so clear. Then the next one I find even worse, with the shot from Maria that’s going on target and their defender makes a double-handed save, to stop the ball.”
Scott was also happy with extra options he now has in the squad when it comes to influencing games.
“If you look at Anna, Reanna, Bras, we’ve got Moons back as well, V, you’ve got players there we can bring on now to try and positively influence games.
“A lot of players fighting for the same places as well which has created some really useful competition for us in the remainder of the season.”
Our midweek encounter with Watford in the Conti Cup was called off on Wednesday but Scott is happy with his side’s preparation.
“It would have been good to have got another game in to bed some players in. That’s always the more challenging side of bringing players in this window. Because you’re starting again to a degree.
“But also, I suppose we’ve been able to train one more day, so I think there’s two ways to look at it. We take it for what it is and we’re prepared for Reading.”
It’s a huge six-pointer for us on Sunday as we face Reading at the Pan, but Scott treats it as any other game.
“Every game for us is obviously a really big one now, not one from now to the end of the season that isn’t.
“But Reading, a place above us, so we understand the position we’re in and it’s a tough game.
“They will want to win just as much as us because they’ll want to put distance between us, so yeah it’s a really big game and hopefully we get a good turnout of fans, get behind us, support us and hopefully we can get the three points for you.”