Martin Ho heaped praise on the players for showing a ‘ruthless edge’ in front of goal after an impressive 7-3 win at Aston Villa in the Women’s Super League on Sunday.
It was a game full of pretty much everything – end-to-end drama at Villa Park, composed finishes, sensational strikes and players grabbing their first goals in Lilywhite – as we returned to winning ways in style in the competition.
Signe Gaupset opened her account for the Club on 10 minutes to put us ahead in the contest and, despite Kirsty Hanson pulling the home side level, Bethany England and Olivia Holdt got on the scoresheet to give us a two-goal advantage at the break.
Oriane Jean-Francois halved the deficit 15 minutes into the second period, but the floodgates opened once again for us – Cathinka Tandberg stepping off the bench to grab a brace, Maika Hamano and Julie Blakstad scoring their first goals for the Club, while Hanson grabbed a mere consolation goal in the midst of all that, as we moved level on points with Arsenal in the table.
“We've been speaking about having a more ruthless edge with the ball in front of goal because we're creating chances, which we did against Chelsea, and we did again today,” he told us, speaking to SPURSPLAY after the game.
“I'm just glad for the players because I challenged them before this game and I said to them, they need to start being more clinical in front of goal. We've got forwards that can do that, but we're not doing it, and that might seem like too much pressure for some players, but it's actually just the belief that we have in them that we know they can finish. If we don't shoot, we won't score from it.
“It shows the belief in the team, the confidence and the enthusiasm through the group, and there were some really good passages [of play] to those goals and there's probably other passages where we didn't finish.
“We'll be disappointed probably as a group because they want to score more, that we didn't put more in, but I was just delighted for the group and I'm delighted to get some players on who have not had many minutes because all the players have performed and the team's been doing quite well. I thought it was a really professional performance.
“But what we have to be better with is the other side. We have to defend the box better. We give them too many chances around the box, we defended some of them situations well, but we don't want to be conceding three goals.”
Asked about Signe, Maika and Julie all opening their account for the Club, Martin added: “It's good for them to get off the mark as well because you're always probably waiting for that moment and you maybe think it's not coming - it can frustrate you; it can make you doubt a little bit.
“But we know how much quality the individuals have and they just need one of those situations to fall. I thought the three goals were brilliantly taken by the three of them. I'm delighted they're off the mark because that will probably take a little bit of pressure off the shoulders.”