Bedford: We Grew Into The Game
- LCFC Women were beaten 1-0 by Reading in the WSL on Sunday
- Natasha Dowie’s goal separated the sides at Select Car Leasing Stadium
- Lydia Bedford was largely positive following the defeat, praising the performance
- She challenged the team to create and convert more chances to take the points
Opening up the New Year with a trip to Select Car Leasing Stadium, the Foxes were on the wrong side of a tight 1-0 scoreline, settled by Natasha Dowie’s early goal, before the Royals forward had a penalty expertly saved by Demi Lambourne.
City hit back strong in the second 45 minutes but were unable to convert their second half dominance into points on the board, leaving them at the foot of the Barclays FA Women’s Super League standings at the halfway stage of the season.
Despite defeat, Bedford took heart from the display, seeing encouraging signs from the way they performed, though sought more potency in front of goal.
“I was really pleased with the second half performance,” she told LCFC TV in her post-match interview. “I think when the girls came out, the tempo was of the game changed, the momentum was largely with us for the whole of that second half.
“If I was going to ask them for a little bit more, it would be shots. I think we’ve had all the possession but not necessarily tested the ‘keeper as much as we maybe could have done, but [I'm] really pleased with the way they responded to being 1-0 down at half-time.
“I said to them at half-time, sometimes you get a bit of luck, Demi [Lambourne] saved the penalty, which we were challenged with having to face and the ball hit the post or the crossbar quite soon after, so the fact that they were 1-0 down at half-time was a bit of luck in our favour.
“In the second half, we knew that there would be a chance to grow from that and build into it, I can’t fault the effort and the energy that they put into that second half.”
With several forwards out of contention, Abbi Grant was handed her Leicester City debut in attack but after picking up an injury during the first period, another debutant, Freya Gregory – who only joined the Club this week – was introduced for her bow.
Bedford was pleased with the contributions from both players and the whole team, which was patched up with LCFC Women having to account for injury and illness.
The manager continued: “There’s positives all around the pitch, from front to back. We’ve had a lot of changes this week based on the COVID situation.
“So, I think the fact that players came in, fulfilled positions, worked tremendously hard and for each other, and managed to keep that momentum in our favour so much that we pinned them into their half for a large part of that second half, I’m really pleased with that.
“She (Abbi Grant) was really unlucky to get a dead leg and I think that affected her. You could see she came on and off a couple of times and we said to her: ‘You’ve got to give us everything for 45 minutes and see if you can get through’.
Bedford Pleased With Second Half Display
Lydia Bedford provides her post-match reaction to LCFC TV following defeat at Reading.
“I think it was the right time to make the change at half-time. Obviously, Freya [Gregory] getting her debut in the second half was fantastic for her and she caused them some real problems along with the other forwards in the second half.”
City have entered a busy period of fixtures as they prepare to take on Manchester City in the rearranged Continental Tyres League Cup group stage clash in midweek before entertaining Brighton & Hove Albion in the league on Sunday. Managing the workload will be crucial, Bedford believes.
“There’s five league games between now and the next international break,” she explained. “One down and we’ve got four more. So, the real focus is Brighton next weekend, not Man City on Wednesday night.
“It gives us a good opportunity to rotate again with what we’ve got available, which is reasonably limited, and [we'll] try to give some players an opportunity, but eyes will be on next Sunday, not so much midweek.”