Olivia Holdt says the squad is ‘ready to go’ in the Barclays Women’s Super League after concluding our pre-season with a 3-1 win at Southampton on Sunday.
After Martha Thomas and Jess Naz fired us ahead in the contest at the Snows Stadium, Olivia stepped off the substitutes bench at half-time to net our third of the game in the second half to cap off a positive afternoon on the south coast.
Having drawn to Sevilla following a week’s training camp in southern Spain before edging Arsenal in a seven-goal thriller, the victory over the Saints maintained our unbeaten run during pre-season.
Now the focus turns to our WSL opener at home to West Ham – tickets still available – and the 24-year-old hailed the importance of the positive momentum from our three games in recent weeks ahead of Sunday’s London derby.
“It’s really positive to get a win in for the upcoming week,” she told us after the game. “We got the last things settled and we got some confidence with three goals, so it was really positive.
“It's very important going unbeaten into the new season from all our training games, lots of good stuff to take into the new campaign. We will continue training hard and good for next week.”
When asked about the new season coming up, she added: “I'm so excited, I can't wait! I feel like we've been in pre-season long enough now, so I feel like we're ready to go when, hopefully, it's going to be a good season.
“We had some fans again here [at the Snows Stadium], and it's always nice to feel their support. I’m looking forward to being at home and seeing the fans.”
The midfielder was introduced at the break, Martha’s goal giving us the lead at half-time, and despite Atlanta Primus firing home an equaliser nine minutes into the second period, we responded well to pick up another vital win in pre-season with Olivia at the heart of our attack.
“It was nice to get on the pitch at half-time and help the team to get some goals,” she said.
“As an offensive player, it's always nice to score goals but, most importantly, we won and we’re ready for next week.
“I don't know if it was nice for me, but it was good to see the first 45 minutes from the sideline before coming on at half-time. I could, like, sit and see where the spaces were on the pitch, so I could prepare and kind of figure out what to do if I get on.”
Watch | Holdt on target against Southampton