Club news

Powell Looking For Complete Performance

By Jake Ketley • 09 December 2018

Brighton & Hove Albion women’s first-team manager Hope Powell is looking for a complete 90-minute performance against Chelsea in the FA Women’s Super League this afternoon.

The manager was happy with her team’s display despite the result in the match against league leaders Arsenal two weeks ago, but was disappointed with the way they followed this up with last week’s 1-0 defeat to West Ham United.

She said, “Certainly in the first half against West Ham, I think we matched them, but in the second half we dropped off and lost some momentum. You can’t afford to do that at this level and get punished.

“Credit goes to Marie for her performance against Arsenal, she redeemed herself from the Reading game and did very well.  She kept us in it early doors. They bombarded us with shots and we managed to stay resilient and keep the ball out of the net.

“Then we started to find our feet and when you’re playing against opposition with a team that has more of the ball, you have to try and secure possession and work your way through those thirds. We did that well against Arsenal; it’s about sustaining it for 90 minutes.

“We’re getting better at doing it, now we just need to ensure we do it for the full match. Not just Sunday, but with the games in the New Year too.”

Powell then looked ahead to today’s match and hopes the lessons learned from previous matches will help her side compete against Chelsea.

“We know it’s going to be very tough, and are under no illusions that they’ll have more of the ball, but some of the lessons we’ve learned is that we’ve been more disciplined in our performances and stuck to our task.

“It’s not easy to do against a solid side but there are lots of positives going into it. We have to be diligent and work as hard as we have done in previous games.

“Hopefully we can stifle their play and get something out of it.”