Albion Women Manager Siobhan Hodgetts-Still says her side showed “great character” in their 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough at the Alexander Stadium on Sunday.
An opener from Armani Maxwell left the Baggies with a tough second-half task of getting back into the game, but a rejuvenated attacking performance saw them level the contest through an accurately-placed Hannah George free-kick.
Hodgetts-Still was pleased with the personality shown by her players, who fought hard to take away a precious FAWNL Northern Premier division point in Perry Barr.
She said: “We showed great character to come from a goal down. We were excellent in the second period and we were unlucky that we didn’t claim all three points.
“A little bit more work in the final third and the three points were there to claim. We’ll certainly take a point and we have to take the positives from today.
“Sometimes it’s about the decision-making and our execution. There were times where we could’ve moved the ball quicker. Sometimes we look at being on or around the ball, but we need to look away from the ball – whether that’s the switch or the furthest pass.
“There’s definitely things that we need to work on, but we’ll take a point – it’s a good point. We’ll move onto the cup next week.
“When Hannah [George] stepped up, she’s got a great left foot, so we were confident that she’d get a goal. It's a goal which has earned us a point.”
Midfielder Seren Watkins enjoyed the “physical” battle against their Teesside opponents and believes their positive performance will spur them on for next Sunday’s FAWNL Cup tie against Leeds United.
“I thought as a team, we had a lot of chances,” Watkins said. “We probably should’ve taken more than just the one, but in fairness to HG [Hannah George], it was a great free-kick.
“They came here and they were challenging as expected. We knew that they were going to come here and be physical but overall there are a lot of positives to take from the performance.
“The physical battle is what I play for and today I knew it was going to be a tough one, but I was more than ready for it. They made it very tough.
“We are frustrated we haven't come away with a win because there were so many chances. In the second half they dropped off and we brought on some really good subs, and they impacted the game well.
“We are frustrated to have not got all three points which is what we came for, but we’re confident heading into next week. You just look at the past few cup runs we’ve had and we’ve done really well.
“We want to take the same momentum from those games into Sunday and come away with a win.”
