Women's

Bowman: We threw the game away

Brought to you by...

Albion captain Dani Bowman admitted that the team let the game slip from their grasp in yesterday’s Barclays FA Women’s Super League defeat to West Ham United.

By Jake Ketley • 20 January 2020

By Kyle Hemsley
Dani Bowman plays the ball past the on-rushing Leanne Kiernan.

Defender Danique Kerkdijk headed Albion in front in the first half before West Ham fought back with an Alisha Lehmann brace to take all three points, and Bowman said the team only have themselves to blame.

She said, “It’s our own fault if I’m honest, and we threw the game away. We had more than enough chances to get the result and it’s not good enough. We knew the threats they have and credit to them, they went route one and we couldn’t deal with the long ball, so we only have ourselves to blame for that in my opinion.

“We should have been ahead by more than just one goal, but at this level if you aren’t finishing your chances then it keeps the other team in it, and with the likes of West Ham, and the players that they have, they will keep fighting to the end. The game should have been done a long way into the first half, and even in the second half, we had plenty of one-on-ones.”

By Kyle Hemsley
Albion captain Dani Bowman.

The result leaves Albion third from bottom, only three points ahead of Liverpool and Bristol City following the Reds' 1-0 victory between the two teams yesterday, and the midfielder stressed the need to improve quickly.

“We knew how they would come out, and it’s what we spoke about at half time. There were a lot of stoppages and we maybe should have managed the game a bit better. In situations where they are going route one, we need to be better at retaining the ball. As a player you know the momentum will swing, but as players we need to deal with that better.

“We’ll always be an improving side as it’s still quite new to us, but we need to improve quickly because we are getting dragged into a relegation battle now and it’s not where we want to be. We can only look at ourselves for throwing points away."

By Kyle Hemsley
Dani Bowman plays the ball forward from midfield.

Next up for Hope Powell’s side is an away trip to Aston Villa in the Women’s FA Cup, and Bowman called on her team to build confidence and momentum with a cup run.

“We’re going against a team from the Championship that looks like they are going to get promoted into the WSL and they are going to have a point to prove. If we aren’t playing well and not finishing our chances off, we will get undone by Aston Villa. They have threats of their own, they are improving and they are doing very well.

“We’ll go back, analyse this and focus turns to Aston Villa at the weekend, because we want a cup run to help with the momentum and confidence within the squad.”