Pike: Confidence The Main Message

- LCFC Women tackle Birmingham City in the WSL on Sunday (2pm kick-off)
- Molly Pike spoke to the media ahead of the encounter at St. Andrew’s Stadium
- Just two points separate the two teams at the foot of the standings
- The 21-year-old revealed there is a good mood around the squad

The Foxes picked up their first three points of the Barclays FA Women’s Super League campaign when the teams last met in December, with Pike assisting both goals during a 2-0 success at King Power Stadium.

Since then, Leicester have also seen off Brighton & Hove Albion on Filbert Way, while last weekend’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup Fourth Round progression at Tottenham Hotspur was another morale-boosting result for the top-flight newcomers.

Speaking to the media in Thursday afternoon’s pre-match press conference, Pike described the upbeat mood in camp and how that can translate into further progression on the pitch come Sunday’s 2pm kick-off at St. Andrew's Trillion Trophy Stadium.

“The atmosphere around training, off the pitch and on the pitch is really good,” the England Under-23s international said. “Everyone is in a good place and really looking forward to this weekend.

“It’s very important to keep that momentum and we’ve spoken a lot about momentum in games and hopefully we can keep the momentum from last Sunday and take it into the first minutes of this game on Sunday.

“We just want to bring confidence from the game last Sunday and confidence from training and just play how we’ve been playing all year. Confidence was the main message this week.”

Darren Carter’s Birmingham side also come into the game off the back of sealing a spot in the Women's FA Cup Fifth Round, defeating Sunderland, while their impressive 2-0 victory over WSL leaders Arsenal last month leaves the Midlands outfit two points behind the Foxes in the standings.  

Combatting the threats that the hosts could pose in Sunday’s encounter will be crucial, Pike believes, though she stressed that the team are keen to concentrate on their own abilities in order to bring the right mindset into the game.

The former Everton playmaker explained: “They’re a good team, they’re a counter-attacking team, so we know their strengths and what they are good at and we’ve put strategies in place to help us stop them using that this weekend.

“But we like to focus on ourselves and as long as we put in a good performance, we feel like our good performances will be able to win us games and get us points. So, we focus a lot on us and making sure that we put a good performance out on the weekend.”

The 21-year-old, who has featured in all but one of Leicester’s 13 WSL fixtures so far this term, starting 11 times, has felt the benefit of having the backing of the Foxes faithful and called upon the Blue Army to generate a similar atmosphere on their visit to St. Andrew’s.  

“One hundred per cent, the fans are really important,” she added. “They definitely helped us in our home games and hopefully we can get the majority of them down to the away game, because they really help us on the pitch and give us the support and belief that we can go and get a good result.”

Online match tickets remain on sale HERE, while they will be also available on the day of the game from the Main Stand ticket office.

All times GMT.