Bethany England was full of disappointment following Friday night’s 5-1 defeat to Manchester City in the Barclays Women’s Super League.
The visitors scored four goals without reply in 80 minutes at Brisbane Road and, despite Olivia Holdt pulling a goal back for us with a stunning strike from distance, the Citizens piled on more misery in stoppage time when Laura Coombs added a fifth, condemning us to our first loss of the season.
Captain Bethany was quick to head over to the supporters after the full-time whistle, taking time to acknowledge their support, and she was first to apologise to them after she described a performance that was ‘not good enough’ on the night.
“Disappointment, anger and a lot of self-reflection,” she told SPURSPLAY, reflecting on the game. “We know it wasn't good enough. I just said in the media to the fans, we're sorry for that performance. We've prided ourselves on a strong start.
“We need to be stronger and realise that they can be punished, as we saw when we scored a cracking goal, they do concede. But on the day, we have to not be fearful. I don’t think we were fearful, but I do think we gave them far too much respect.”
“In the first 15 minutes, I thought we were all over them, we just weren’t able to create an opportunity and take our chance. Unfortunately, they went and scored, and it knocked the wind out of us.
“We knew we were capable of scoring ourselves, but I felt like our heads went down too quickly. I’m not sure why because I felt we were the better team in the first 20 minutes. We need to figure out how to sustain that for longer periods, especially against tough opposition.
“We obviously need to reflect and see where we can improve, but we’re just sorry because it wasn’t good enough.”