Proud of the players

29 August 2011

Proud of the players

Bristol Academy ended their inaugural FA WSL season on Sunday with a 3-1 reverse at in from Lincoln Ladies.

The defeat means the Vixens end the season with a fifth place finish after picking up nine points since the break for the Women’s World Cup. With the Academy tipped in pre season to struggle in the new league the club will be very pleased to end the season in a respectably fifth place.

“Today we lost because the key moments in the match didn’t go in our favour, we had two great moments in the first half to make the break through and they didn’t go for us then when they had their moments they got that bit of luck you need. The first and the third goal are certainly to say the least debatable and the second goal is a just unfortunate with the ball deflecting off Molly in the box. These key moments were a real psychological blow to the team and I believe we showed fantastic character to keep fighting and get the goal back in the end. This team never give up and never stop fighting and it was typical of their strength of character and togetherness that they gave everything to get back in the game.

“When you look at the progress we have made over the course of the season we must be very proud of the players. We picked up two more points in the second half of the season than we did in the first and won two more matches so that is a sign the team is progressing. We have shown in every game we can compete and now it is about continuing to grow and make progress. Along with Arsenal we have played the most amounts of games this season with our FA Cup run to it has been a real group effort to get us above Chelsea and into fifth. We still don’t get the respect we deserve for our achievements but that is something we have to just get on with. Everyone at the club is very proud of this team and what they have achieved.”

The result on Sunday now means Bristol will host Lincoln this coming Sunday at their Stoke Gifford Stadium in the Continental Cup, a challenge the manager is already looking forward to.

”We still have big games to look forward to and we have put ourselves in a great position going into the Continental Cup. The game next week will be the third time we have faced Lincoln in a short space of time and we feel very hard done by in both the previous games so it is a game we will be very much looking forward to. However we know we face a big challenge and when Lincoln come to us in we will need the whole club to come together and play their part one more time to help get us through to the semi final.”

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