Albion Women Interim Head Coach Charlie Fripp says they now have a “great base” to move into their final pre-season game with.
The Baggies drew 2-2 with FAWNL Southern Premier outfit Portsmouth on Sunday afternoon, where they were able to take plenty of positives from their penultimate pre-season effort.
An own goal and Jess Collyer’s first Albion strike were enough to even up the match, and with one more friendly to play - Fripp is confident heading into the new campaign.
He said: “I thought the girls did really well today. Portsmouth came and are a dominant side, they got relegated from WSL2 and came here with a purpose to prepare for their season - and so have we.
“The girls competed really well, we dominated spells, and we learned a lot from different periods of the game. We did a lot in both areas, and it’s given us a great base to move into our final pre-season game on.
“We’ve put in a lot of work across the last few weeks, we’ve worked a lot on the final third and the girls have taken to it really well. To score from a passage we worked from on just Friday is really pleasing - we’ve seen so much professionalism from the players.
“I’ll always back the ability of the players, and to have these challenging opponents in pre-season helps us judge where we need to be. We’re looking forward to the season ahead.”
Forward Collyer showed sharp instincts to dart inside from the left wing and power Albion’s second into the roof of the net, and though it’s still pre-season for the new signing - the 21-year-old says they’ve “set up well” to face strong teams.
She said: “It was a very competitive game. They were very competitive as an opposition team, but I felt we did well and it was great to get more minutes under our belt.
“I was out on the left side, so I cut inside and my first thought was to shoot and luckily it went in. I’m really excited for the league after today, we’ve set up well to compete against really strong teams so hopefully it puts us in a great position.
“They’re a really great group of girls and I’m looking forward to getting to know them all better. They’ve welcomed me in with open arms.”
