Bedford: Small Margins Really Important
- LCFC Women were beaten 3-2 by Everton in the WSL on Saturday evening
- Jemma Purfield and Sam Tierney were on the scoresheet at Walton Hall Park
- Lydia Bedford was proud of City’s overall performance despite the end result
- She felt the team could have defended better in testing conditions
The Foxes held the advantage when Jemma Purfield struck after five minutes at Walton Hall Park, but Everton drew level via Toni Duggan’s finish, despite suspicions of offside, though Leicester were culpable of presenting the chance to the England forward.
The home side soon had another, this time courtesy of Anna Anvegård’s strike, and again Bedford was unhappy with the defending in the lead up to the goal.
Despite those setbacks, City pushed for an equaliser and found it thanks to a brave header from Sam Tierney on the stroke of half-time. There would be one final twist early in the second half as Sweden forward Anvegård netted her second of the game.
Although there were calls for offside once more, Bedford was keen to focus on how her side could have managed the game better in order to prevent the situation from unfolding during her post-match interview with LCFC TV.
She commented: “At the end we just spoke about the fact that it’s three mistakes from us today which have given them the goals today and I think those small margins are really important in games like this. But overall, I’m really proud of what the girls produced over the 90 minutes.
“The wind almost made it a game of two halves in one sense. Obviously, in the first half, we were against the wind and that obviously allowed them to have a reasonable amount of pressure upon us and make it difficult to get out.
“Both of our goals scored in the first half were key, they were really important. I felt that it was going to be easier to score with the wind than without it and so the fact that we’d scored two without it in the first half was a real push for us at half-time, which is probably why we’re so disappointed at the end of the game.
“I felt we didn’t capitalise on having the wind in our favour enough in the second half. Their goal early in the second half dropped our momentum a little bit. To be fair, our players picked themselves up and made it a really tough last 15 minutes trying to push for an equaliser, but sometimes that’s not enough.”
Without both Demi Lambourne and Kirstie Levell, goalkeeper Sophie Harris was handed a top-flight debut for the Foxes and just her second appearance of the season across all competitions. City’s manager praised the 27-year-old’s performance between the sticks after having little time to prepare for her bow.
“We tried to do anything we could within our power to influence the game tonight,” the former England youth coach continued. “I’m really proud of Sophie Harris for stepping up for her WSL debut. I thought she played fantastically. Right before half-time, she made a really critical save to keep us at 2-2 going in [to the break].
“I think she played with real confidence and that’s a mark of the work that our goalkeeping department does that this season. We’ve utilised all three of our goalkeepers at key moments.
Mistakes Ultimately Cost Us, Says Bedford
Speaking to LCFC TV post-match, Lydia Bedford praised her team's efforts despite a 3-2 defeat at Everton in the Barclays FA Women's Super League.
“Based on the injury issues we had coming into the game, which evolved 24 hours prior, I’m really pleased with what the players produced. We hope she (Demi Lambourne) will be back with us next week at some point.”
Without a competitive fixture until 27 March, when WSL champions Chelsea visit King Power Stadium in a 3pm GMT kick-off, Bedford is aiming to keep the squad ticking over in preparation for a testing run of games in the weeks to follow.
The 34-year-old added: “We’ll use that as an opportunity to get a friendly in next weekend, which will be great for us in terms of rotating and also just keeping our momentum going into some of the games coming up.”