Brighton & Hove Albion striker Ini Umotong praised the effort of the whole squad after her goal contributed to a 2-0 FA Women’s Super League victory over Liverpool.
The Nigeria international was happy that the team executed their game plan, and believes it will give the squad a huge amount of belief heading into 2019.
She said, “We knew it was going to be an important game. Liverpool were a few places ahead of us and the pressure was on us, but we executed the game plan well.
“We kept a clean sheet, scored two goals and I though the performance from all of the girls was really good, and it’s a great way to start 2019.
“As an individual and as a team, the performance has shown that when we work well together, we can achieve a lot as a group.
“The whole squad has had a massive confidence boost and personally for me scoring that goal will just raise my confidence more.”
Umotong played a part in both goals, seeing her shot come back off the crossbar for the first before eventually getting her own name on the scoresheet for the second, and the striker admitted she thought the first may have been hers too.
“I thought it [her shot before the first goal] went in! I might have been a bit blind but I thought it may have crossed the line.
“As soon as I hit it I thought about celebrating, but Raff [Laura Rafferty] was in the perfect place at the right time to make sure the ball found the net.
“For the second goal, I was pretty sure that one of their players tried to play it back to her team mate but got it slightly wrong.
“So really it was their mistake that set me up, which is nice as it’s not something that happens very often. But when it does, you need to make sure you take advantage, and I was happy to do that.
The striker then spoke about the thoughts going through her mind as she approached goal.
“All that was going through my head was just making sure I scored the goal. I was also looking at the linesman to make sure I was onside, but my gut instinct was right and I was. After that I was just thinking, ‘put it in the goal’.
“I’ve been trying to use my left foot a lot more frequently and it’s paid off, as I could just go with my instinct and not really have to think about it.”