Heskey: The Girls Have Been Fantastic

- LCFC Women secured two points in Continental Tyres League Cup Group B on Sunday
- After a 2-2 draw with Manchester United, the Foxes won 4-3 on penalties to move onto five points
- Sophie Howard and Natasha Flint scored before Demi Lambourne saved two spot-kicks
- Emile Heskey was pleased to come away with the points that their battling performance deserved

City took the lead in the first half courtesy of a first Leicester goal for Sophie Howard, meeting Jemma Purfield’s corner at the near post, before Alessia Russo levelled the scores early in the second half.

Natasha Flint then edged the visitors back in front, though Katie Zelem was able to restore parity once more to ensure both teams earned a point from the Group B encounter.

A bonus point was on offer in the shootout, with the away side scoring four of their five penalties to once again leave Leigh Sports Village with a positive result, much to Heskey’s delight.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” the 43-year-old admitted to LCFC TV in his post-match interview. “We’ve been here before, and we’ve also played them in the season. It was always going to be difficult.

“They’ve got some fantastic players. I knew as long as we stayed in the game, we had half a chance and that’s what we did. We knew we’d have a little spell where you’ve got to take your opportunities and we did that really well.

“We knew we weren’t going to be dominant in possession from the beginning, but corners were one of the things that we identified, and we were unlucky not to get another one from a free-kick. We had an aerial threat and as long as we attacked it aggressively, we had half a chance.”

The Club’s Head of Women’s Football Development, who was overseeing the Foxes’ first fixture since the departure of Jonathan Morgan, felt proud of the way the team applied themselves in the lead up to – and during - the game.

He continued: “The girls have done fantastically in the sense of focusing on the next task, which was this game. They came into this game bubbly. They showed it out there on the pitch where they left everything out there and eventually got another point from penalties.

“All I’ve done is try to keep everything bubbly, keep them working, keep them active and ready and their mind focused for this game. It was never going to be easy. We sat in the way that we did knowing that we could exploit them at times.

“As long as you stick to the principle and keep a firm line, we did really well on that. They know the triggers and we’ve worked on it. The longer it went on, we looked like we could probably nick another one. We knew we were going to create a few chances.”

The former Leicester City No.9 praised forward Flint after scoring City’s second goal, also tucking away her spot-kick from 12 yards before goalkeeper Demi Lambourne saved two penalties having been a commanding presence during the 90 minutes.

Heskey added: “We had Tash [Flint] one vs. one at the end and she was a little bit unlucky with a heavy touch. She did fantastically well here last season as well on the break and she’s very good in that when she gets her opportunity, she generally takes it.

“She (Demi Lambourne) was fantastic again today. Not just on the penalties, but in the actual game. Having a high line, anything coming over the back, she was there to snuff that out. Any crosses coming into the box, she was the first one there to get on them.

“She topped it off with the penalty saves.”