Back on Track

1 August 2011

Back on Track

After two successive defeats Bristol Academy bounced back with a 2-0 win at Liverpool Ladies on Sunday thanks to a double from Jess Fishlock.

The win moves the Vixens up a place to fifth a point ahead of Lincoln and five behind Chelsea. After the game manager Mark Sampson was pleased with the result and the fact the team kept a clean sheet.

"After an intense two matches where we were chasing the game for long periods it was important today to score the first goal and be in a position to control the game so it was pleasing when we won the penalty and Jess put it away early in the game. After that the team showed excellent character to limit our opponents too very few opportunities and continue to create chances ourselves. The surface made it difficult to circulate the ball at our usual speed but the players adapted well and found ways to control the game.

“It was important to win today; we have had a very consistent performance level over the course of the season but not turned those performances into wins. But you can see the team are learning from our experiences and growing as a group and today we saw a mature performance which is extremely pleasing from my point of view.”

Jess Fishlock moved herself into the WSL top scoring charts with another two goals adding to her goal against Birmingham, after struggling to find the net during the first half of the season Bristol have now scored six goals in their last three WSL matches. Sampson was pleased that his team are now creating and taking their opportunities and adopting a more attacking philosophy.

“We are playing some really good football at the moment and it is allowing us to create more opportunities to score. It’s not just a matter of the front players; it is a team effort starting with the keeper, in order for us to attack more we have to get the ball back as soon as possible so the role of every player and their mentality is crucial. We want to attack and not to be a defensive team our philosophy is to win games in an attacking way and we are on the right path in moving closer to this objective.”

Bristol now travel to Doncaster Saturday where they will be looking for their third WSL win of the season.

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