Albion Women Interim Head Coach Charlie Fripp says his side “worked hard together” but “ultimately fell short” after their second defeat of the FAWNL Northern Premier season to Middlesbrough on Sunday.
The Baggies were pegged back by a set piece in the first half and couldn’t find a reply in the second match of the FAWNL term at the MAP UK Group Stadium.
Even through the defeat, Fripp was more than happy with the performance from his side in the North East, and said he “couldn’t have asked for anymore from the girls.”
He said: “It’s a difficult one to take, I thought we dominated for large parts of the game. We turned off on one free-kick and they managed to capitalise but credit to Middlesbrough they grinded out the result and we knew they were dangerous from set pieces - we just switched off for a minute but I couldn’t have asked for anymore from the girls.
“We took the defeat to Stoke to heart and we went home and had a chat together as a group and the girls took that into the game today and they worked hard together, they grinded out what they could grind out but ultimately, we fell short.
“Once we click, we’ll click. We saw signs of that today, it’s not the full click yet but we’ll get there next week and hopefully the results start coming.”
Naomi Powell labelled the defeat as a “disappointing” one for herself and her Albion teammates, but she says there's a confidence they can bounce back almost immediately as they take on Birmingham City PGA in the FAWNL Cup on Wednesday evening (ko 7.45pm).
She said: “As a group we’re disappointed with the result, to concede to a set piece. But it’s the little details in this game to win the league so we’ll go back to the drawing board, assess everything and go again on Wednesday.
“We definitely had those chances created, especially in the middle third, it’s just about finding the back of the net and once we do I believe in this team that once we do more will come after that. We’ve been working hard and we’ll go again.”
