Albion Women Interim Head Coach Charlie Fripp says his side will “regroup and go again” after their opening day defeat to Stoke City on Sunday afternoon.
The Baggies were downed by two first-half Potters strikes, and couldn’t find a reply in their first FAWNL Northern Premier match of the season at the bet365 Stadium.
But with plenty more matches ahead of them Fripp is keen to remain positive, as he believes his side will “click” during the 2026/27 season.
He said: “It was a difficult performance to take. We know what we can do and what levels we can hit, and in the first half we weren’t good enough, but at half-time we regrouped and the performance was much better.
“If you give a team like Stoke the opportunities to score like that, you find yourselves in a tough position.
“There were periods and spells in the second half where we were really good. We created opportunities and we put them on the back foot at times, but that’s football sometimes, we need to regroup and go again next week against Middlesbrough.
“If you don’t put the ball in the back of the net, you won’t win the game and that’s the situation we found ourselves in today. It’s a long season and we understand that, we understand it’s a marathon not a sprint and we’re here for the long run.
“We’ll put even better performances in, and once we click, we’ll click.”
Rhianne Rush labelled the defeat a “learning curve” for her and her Albion team-mates, as she made her debut for the club in Staffordshire.
She said: “It’s a frustrating one. As a team we’re disappointed in ourselves, more so, we’ve worked so hard in pre-season and been applying everything we learned in training.
“Maybe today we were just off it for a few periods in the game, and we fell short on those few per cents, and we could’ve done more. It’s only the start of the season and there’s a lot to learn from too.
“It’s a learning curve for us. They took our chances and football’s all about who can score.
“The goals we conceded were individual errors and they’re there to learn from. It’s the start of a long season now, and we know we can bounce back.
“Together we’ll support one another, we’ve got our own ambitions as a club and team, but it’s not fully a step back - and we know we’ll take that step forward when we can. We have another big game next Sunday, so the focus goes onto that now.”
