Albion Women Manager Siobhan Hodgetts-Still believes her side “dominated large parts” of their 1-1 draw against Loughborough on Sunday.
The Baggies travelled to Loughborough University Stadium for the opening day of the FAWNL Northern Premier campaign and took the lead through Fran Orthodoxou’s header after 15 minutes.
Their advantage was short lived, though. Daisy-Mai Coutts replied almost instantly by bundling over the Baggies goal-line, restricting Albion to a hard-fought point in Leicestershire.
The boss said: “I thought it was an entertaining game. I thought both teams were well-organised in both halves and that we dominated large parts of the encounter.
“I thought we used the ball well and progressed into the final third a lot, but we have to be better in and around the final third. Whether that's the execution or being clinical in and around the box.
“I think there were chances for both teams. Those chances could’ve put us up 2-1 or 3-1, but on the other hand, LJ did make two really good saves to keep us in the game as well.
“Fran scored a great header from a great set-piece. Again, I think I was disappointed that we weren’t organised for their goal. We misjudged a ball over the top and they got in behind us.
“Obviously we wanted the three points, but I'll take the point. Look, I’m buzzing to be back out there, we had a really good pre-season.”
Liv Rabjohn captained the side to their opening day point and the midfielder described wearing the armband as an “absolute honour.”
“It was a tough start,” Rabjohn said. “We knew it would be a tough place to come and gain some points.
“We knew they’d have a point to prove because they’ve just been promoted and they're really well organised and hard to break down. It was frustrating but I felt for large parts we were dominant but it just comes down to those one percents in both boxes.
“It’s an absolute honour [to captain the side]. We’ve bonded so well as the team and we have a great group of girls. It’s a personal honour to lead out the team.
“We were just buzzing to get back at it. I think we missed a bit of structure in the off season and we've worked hard these last six weeks.
“It’s great to be able to put that into practice now.”
Albion are next in action on Wednesday evening, when they take on Stourbridge in the FA WNL Cup group phase.
