Brighton & Hove Albion defender Victoria Williams was pleased to score her first goal for the club, but says the team were left to rue a poor first-half performance against Tottenham Hotspur.
The summer arrival from Sunderland highlighted how the team came together at the interval to work out a plan for how they could eliminate the 2-0 deficit.
She said, “We were really disappointed with the first half but we spoke about it at half time, and I thought we improved in the second. Sadly it wasn’t enough and we were unfortunate to lose on penalties.
“During half time we spoke between ourselves and Hope reiterated what we already said. We needed to improve on doing the basics well enough, and that needed to change.”
“We knew what we needed to do, we needed to be better and in the second half we came out a much improved team but we still weren’t up to our usual standards.”
Williams also managed to score her first goal in an Albion shirt in only her second appearance, but her only focus was on helping the team.
“It was nice to score my first goal for Brighton. I wouldn’t say scoring was unusual for me. If you play football you want to score and the opportunity was lucky enough to fall to me and I took it.
“But at the end of the day it was about getting back in the game as a team so I don’t mind who scores as long as when the opportunities come up we put them away.”
It was inevitable that Williams would have to take a penalty in the shootout as all 11 players from each team had an opportunity to step up following a succession of conversions.
“I actually quite like taking penalties. I’m quite laid-back so I wanted to take a penalty and luckily it went in.
“I knew what I was going to do with the ball when I stepped-up, I don’t even look at the goalkeeper when I take a penalty. I knew in my head where I was going to put it.”
The defender than looked ahead to the team’s next encounter, the first league match of the season against Bristol City. Williams feels that the team are ready to make their mark on the Women’s Super League.
“Yes most definitely, I believe that the team can prove a lot of people wrong this season.
“It will be a tough game against Bristol City, but I think we are more than ready for life in the Women’s Super League.
“Starting at home is good for us and hopefully we can get a good amount of support there as well.”
Tickets are on general sale for the first league match of the season against Bristol City on Tuesday 9th September at Crawley Town’s Broadfield Stadium. Prices are just £7 for adults £6 for concessions and £3 for under-18s if booked in advance. Season tickets are also still available. Visit BrightonAndHoveAlbion.com/tickets for more information.