Bedford ‘Buzzing’ With Birmingham Success
- LCFC Women beat Birmingham City 2-0 in Sunday’s WSL clash at King Power Stadium
- Sophie Howard and Sam Tierney scored as Leicester claimed their first league win
- Lydia Bedford reacted to her maiden success as Foxes manager on her home debut
- The impressive performance was just as pleasing as the result for Bedford
It was a crucial three points in the context of the Barclays FA Women’s Super League campaign, seeing Leicester rise above Birmingham in the standings, but the manager says there is still much work to be done during 2022.
There’s another 12 games to play, including the reverse fixture against the Blues although, until preparations begin for their next encounter against Reading on 9 January, the Foxes, who were supported by over 2,000 fans on Filbert Way, can enjoy this well-earned first victory at the top level, she believes.
“It’s massive relief, I’m really buzzing for the girls,” a delighted Bedford told LCFC TV following full-time at King Power Stadium on Sunday. “It was a great team performance from them. To keep a clean sheet and put that performance in across 90 minutes, I’m so proud of them.
“I tried to say before the game that it wasn’t just about these points and it absolutely isn’t, the second half of the season is going to be critical for us. The girls have got to remember that, but three points makes a massive difference to our journey.
“Just the belief that will create over Christmas and the mentality for the girls coming back in January, hopefully that will really help us to jump-start the New Year.
“The fans were fantastic, you could hear them throughout the game, which is brilliant. That support is so critical for the girls at this stage of the season, and that brought belief for them.
“The size of this pitch is massive, we utilised that really well, got the ball into wide areas and dominated those areas of the pitch too, so I’m pleased that they were able to put what we’d worked on at the training ground into practice today on the pitch.”
Defender Sophie Howard got the ball rolling with a stunning effort just 18 minutes into the game and, from thereon, Leicester largely took control of proceedings, but when called upon, also stood strong to snuff out any danger posed by Darren Carter’s side.
“A goal settles the team a little bit,” Bedford admitted. “But I always think that one goal isn’t quite enough from my perspective. It’s still quite nervy and Birmingham created some chances and we were riding a little bit of a storm at times in that game.
“Particularly right before half-time, they had two corners and they are whipping them right into the front post area and they are good at delivering those. I think Ashleigh [Plumptre] did a great job of man-marking Louise Quinn today and we were resilient in those moments.
“Sometimes you’ve got to ride a bit of that momentum to then grow. Getting the second in that second half was fantastic.”
Defensively, the team were a strong unit throughout to keep a maiden top-flight clean sheet and also contributed both goals with Sam Tierney popping up to head home Molly Pike’s corner with a quarter of the game remaining.
City’s manager continued: “I’m really pleased for her (Sam Tierney) today. She played as a centre-back and then moved into the midfield and she was very professional in both of those areas. For her to then get on the scoresheet as well is fantastic. It’s a big sigh of relief after the second goal went in, but I'm really pleased for her.
“The back five today put a real shift in. Abbie [McManus] led that line fantastically. There were still a few risky moments, but the girls are growing and understanding those moments more and today, even with changes in that back line, they kept that clean sheet and worked really hard for each other.
“The midfield supported them for second balls. We won a lot of the balls in the air, which we knew Birmingham would be brilliant at, they like to play in behind, they are quite direct, and we were really resilient in defending that.”
Bedford's Delight After First Triumph
Speaking to LCFC TV at King Power Stadium, Lydia Bedford reacts to her first win as LCFC Women manager.
Bedford also revealed the key messages that were expressed at half-time in order to continue to impose their dominance during the second period and ensure they sealed that all-important first victory.
The 34-year-old added: “It was to just take some confidence from the fact that you are 1-0 up, but these are the ‘watch-outs’ and, for me, the big one was some form of counter-attack that they are going to get in behind us with, or a set play.
“From the girls’ perspective, they were confident that they would grow into the second half, but for me they were the warning messages. From an in-possession perspective, we had opportunities in the first half to perhaps use that width more than we did.
“So it was to grow their confidence and that there is space in behind and space out wide and to exploit those areas as much as we can, which we did.”