Women's football news
Written by: Joe
Lewes FC Women’s manager Nat Lawrence says the side can “take confidence” from Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Ipswich Town as the team prepare for Wednesday’s encounter with Hashtag United at the Dripping Pan, reports Lily Perrill.
The Rooks found themselves 1-0 down after 26 minutes on Sunday but, after fighting to keep out any further Ipswich chances, bounced back in the second half through Lucy Connolly-Brame’s strike.
“We came in with a game plan… and everyone stuck to their task,” says Lawrence.
“They kept going, were under pressure towards the end, being 1-0 down, and Ipswich are an incredible team who are going to be right up there for promotion at the end of the season, so I’m super proud of the whole group today.”
The second half saw a lot of chances coming against the Rooks, with the visitors piling on the pressure as they sought a second goal. But Connolly-Brame came up with the goods to fire home an equaliser in the 63rd minute after Lois Roche worked hard down the right hand side to put it on a plate for the full back, who finished the chance emphatically.
Lawrence gave an insight into the game plan that got the Rooks the crucial point.
“We knew that they would have good spells on the ball and we wanted to try and do what we could to manage the game in and out of possession. We knew in those moments that we could add more pressure, really take advantage of those and I feel that is ultimately where our goal came from,” she says.
“We were frustrated conceding the set piece but I thought how we nullified some of their threats out of possession, without the ball, lead to us having a bit of success on the ball.”
Finally, Lawrence looked ahead to the fixture against top-of-the-table Hashtag United on Wednesday evening (7:30pm), and what the side can take from this result into that game.
“I think we can take confidence,” says Lawrence. “Hashtag play quite a different brand of football, they’re very successful with what they do. We really struggled when we played against them at their home ground, so I think for us it’s just to take the confidence and learnings from today as well.”
Lewes FC Women vs Hashtag United kicks off at 7:45pm on Wednesday.
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Interview: Lily Perrill