Women's Team

Ashlee Brown | We’ve found our groove

Ashlee Brown.

Albion Women full-back Ashlee Brown says she “enjoyed” their mid-season friendly against Cheltenham Town ahead of their final two FAWNL Premier Division games.

The Baggies sit seventh in the table, with games against Stoke City and newly crowned champions Newcastle United to finish the season.

And the 1-1 draw against the Robinesses has given them food for thought as they face the remaining weeks of the campaign.

Brown said: “They were a good match for us. It was a good game, they brought it to us today.

“For a mid-season friendly and with the break of games we’ve had, it was good to work on a few things. They’re in a similar position to us so we enjoyed that.

“We’ve been training as normal in the week. We’ve been doing individual top-ups with different runs in our spare time.

“The training schedule hasn’t changed as much, it’s just finding what we can do to replicate our distances and minutes on a Sunday when we can’t get friendlies in.”

Siobhan Hodgetts-Still.

Brown made her return from a lengthy knee injury earlier in the campaign, just in time to help the side climb up the league table.

She said: “If I’m comparing it to last season, we’re on a much better run. We started off a bit rocky but we’ve found our groove.

“We’re a bit disappointed that we’ve had such a big break really because we’re enjoying ourselves. We don’t think it’ll affect our momentum too much, though.

“Comparing us to last season, we’re in a really good place to secure as many points as we can to finish in the top half of the table.”

The additions, both on and off the pitch have helped towards this, according to the right-back. 

Brown is working under her second manager at the club in Siobhan Hodgetts-Still and also believes the competition within the squad is better than ever.

Brown said: “Good competition is all healthy competition. It’s good, it keeps the intensity of training very high.

“It makes you focus more and be on the ball all the time. It means you don’t make mistakes and lose that starting spot.

“It’s really good but it’s disappointing when you see your teammates who aren’t getting the game time they want. We need to be able to bring everyone up and make sure they still feel part of the squad, even though they’re on the bench at times.

“Shev works really well; she knows how we can win games which has worked well. It’s about trusting that process and being on board with what she wants.

“It looks like we’ve started to execute her needs in the way she’d like.”