Albion Women Manager Siobhan Hodgetts-Still believes her players can take plenty of positives from the performance against FA WNL Northern Premier leaders Burnley despite their 1-0 defeat.
The Baggies were narrowly beaten by the Clarets on Wednesday night, with the visitors’ winner coming courtesy of a tenth-minute penalty – a goal which handed the hosts a first loss in eight matches.
As frustrating as it was to come so close to extending their unbeaten run, Manager Hodgetts-Still was pleased with plenty of aspects of her side’s showing at the Alexander Stadium.
She said: “I'm disappointed that we didn't get any points today. I'm really proud of the performance and the shift that the players put in.
“We knew it was going to be a competitive game and they would have a lot of the ball, but I thought the players worked hard out-of-possession. They limited them to a few chances, and they didn't score from open play. Their goal came from a penalty.
“We’re proud of the performance. I think we have to take the positives from the game and move on quite quickly.
“I think we had chances, and there was definitely some really good moments that we did create. I think we have to take that into the next game, and into the league going forward.
“I think out-of-possession we were brilliant, in terms of staying connected, pressing at the right moment and limiting them to few chances.
“If we take some positivity from the out-of-possession side and work on a few things in terms of in-possession and being a little bit calmer when we do regain it, I believe we can progress in the league.”
After a period on the sidelines at the beginning of the season, goalkeeper Charlotte Clarke has slotted seamlessly into the Baggies’ defensive unit and made plenty of saves to keep the league leaders at bay on Wednesday night.
The shot-stopper shared her manager’s frustration and says they did themselves “proud.”
“I think we did ourselves proud to be honest,” Clarke said. “To concede a penalty, it's one of those things, unfortunately.
“After that, we did ourselves proud and could’ve got something from the game. We deserved to get something, but we can come away from that with a lot of positives. Those positives will really drive us on to the next league game.
“Defensively, I don't really think that they caused us too many problems. In the first half, I think there was a few crosses in the box but after that we were a lot better defensively.
“We had a few chances, and on another day, those go in. The girls are really positive because we know that we put in a good shift.
“We’re just disappointed as we know we should’ve got something from it.
“I know that we can get back to winning ways quickly and the rest of the players know we can.
“Personally, I’ve loved being back. I missed it so much at the start of the season when I couldn’t be a part of it.
“We’ve got a great group of girls that have helped me slot straight back in and it’s been great.”
