Dario: We showed a good response

Main Club Sponsor

TICKETS

SHOP

Head coach praises his team's reaction in 3-2 win over West Ham.

Bruce Talbot

2024-11-16T14:45+00:00

Head coach Dario Vidosic watches on from the Amex touchline. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

Dario, your players showed a lot of character to win the game having been pegged back to 2-2 in the second half ...

Yes, we showed a good response. They have scored with two long shots which took deflections which were probably a bit unfortunate on our part. But these things happen and we know that any team in the WSL can cause you problems. It would have been very easy to drop our heads, especially after the last game against Arsenal, but I think we did really well after that.

For much of the game the performance was pretty controlled wasn’t it?

West Ham were really trying to condense the middle of the park to stop our progressions there. But the girls showed their bravery to still look for the ball to play progressively and play simple as well when we needed to.

Rachel McLauchlan wins the ball in the air. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

We were creating opportunities, it was probably just that final product but then we saw the class on the last goal and Fran showed her composure inside the box to put the shot away in the bottom corner.

I thought we scored some really good goals and overall there were lots of positives but we'll look back on what we can improve and how we can get better.

One player who caught the eye was Maisie Symonds, in an unusual position …

Yes, we were down to one fit central defender because Jorelyn [Carabali] pulled out on Friday so Maisie had a crash course in a day and a half on defending and I thought she did really well. She was good on the ball and stayed composed.

Fran Kirby provided an assist and the winning goal. How happy are you with her so far this season?

She’s tremendous. Not just the quality that we all see on a match day, but what she brings around the change room and the club. It has been coming that goal - and the assist - because she keeps getting herself in good positions.