Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Kirsty Barton feels that the result was not a true reflection of the game in yesterday’s 1-0 defeat to Birmingham City.
The 26 year-old played the full 90 minutes and pinpointed the penalty decision as the turning point in the match.
She said, “I think in the first ten minutes we were slow to get in to the game.
“Once we found our feet we held our own and I thought we did really well. It was an unfortunate decision by the referee to give the penalty.
“It didn’t kill us because we came back stronger, but a 1-0 defeat isn’t what we should have got out of the game. I feel like we were hard done by with that decision.”
Despite the timing of the decision, Barton insisted that the team's heads didn’t drop at half-time and that they showed determination to improve in the second-half.
“We were obviously gutted, it was a minute before half-time.
“When we got into the changing room Hope said to us that it was disappointing that the referee has given that, but we had to look at our own performance and take the positives from it.
“We then took that into the second-half, in the last ten minutes especially we fought and we nearly nicked an equaliser with Sophie Perry going one on one with the goalkeeper.
“It’s hard going away from home, but each game we’re building. It’s our second game in the Women’s Super League and even from the first game against Bristol City we’ve improved; we were much better in this one.”
Next up for the Seagulls is a match against Liverpool this Sunday and Barton commented on what the team can expect from them.
“I think they’ll end up being one of the stronger teams in the league. We are expecting it to be a tough game ,but if we can build on this performance then we have a really good chance of getting something out of the match.”
Barton also encouraged fans to come and support the team at the Broadfield Stadium.
“It would be great. Obviously at every game we’d really like to get as many fans there as possible.
“The extra support will give us a boost and it’s really nice to have them there. It will create a really good atmosphere so we’d love it if the supporters turned out in force to watch the game.”