Bedford: Our Aim Remains The Same
- LCFC Women tackle Reading at King Power Stadium on Sunday (2pm kick-off)
- The WSL clash could be crucial to the Foxes maintaining top-flight status
- Lydia Bedford is concentrating on how to secure points against the Royals
- City have two games to play in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League this term
The Foxes’ position has become somewhat more precarious in recent weeks, as five straight Barclays FA Women’s Super League defeats coupled with Birmingham City’s upturn in form, has decreased the gap to the division’s bottom side to just four points with two games to play.
However, there is a single-minded approach within the camp at Belvoir Drive that ensures all the focus is on preparing for this weekend’s fixture – a 2pm kick-off at King Power Stadium – rather than worrying about the permutations of where each team could end up heading into the final day.
“Nothing has changed too much,” Bedford revealed, speaking during Thursday’s virtual pre-match press conference with the media. “They’ve always known that it is one game as it comes. If you look at the remaining games that Birmingham have, our focus has got to be on what we do on Sunday.
“The players know that if they take three points, that pretty much puts the league to bed. Obviously that’s our main focus - trying to get points out of this weekend and then to go again against Spurs seven days later and see where we are.
“Credit to Birmingham, they put in a great performance against Brighton last weekend and took the points. From our perspective, we’re still in the driving seat. As it stands, we’re currently in the WSL and it’s ours to lose so we’ve just got to make sure that we focus on ourselves and are in the best position to compete on Sunday.”
Leicester will be coming up against another side who have found results hard to come by over recent weeks, with Reading suffering six defeats in their last eight games and, like City, have failed to win in the WSL since February, following a run of five victories in a row.
Nevertheless, Bedford knows the Royals are a dangerous side packed with players who can pose problems, having demonstrated their abilities in the reverse fixture, a narrow triumph for Kelly Chambers’ outfit.
“I think it’s been a little bit of an up and down campaign for them,” City’s manager explained. “As happens with many a club across the season. When we played them in January, they had a little run where they got results and played reasonably well. Then they’ve had a drop in form over the last six games which has resulted in no points.
“You know what you are going to get from Reading. They’ll be a well organised, well coached side under Kelly [Chambers]. From our perspective, if we reflect on the game in January when we went to their place, we felt we could have come away with more that day.
“And certainly, the players will go into this weekend trying to make sure that we can get our job done as quickly as possible.”
Assessing her time at the helm, which began in late 2021, the 35-year-old feels the Blue Army has been a key part of the journey, showing their backing and roaring the team on to home victories over Birmingham City and Brighton & Hove Albion. She is confident that the supporters can do the same again in the final home fixture.
Bedford: We've Had A Shift In Mindset
Manager Lydia Bedford speaks to the media ahead of LCFC Women's final home fixture of the season against Reading.
“It’s passed so quickly,” the former England youth coach admitted. “The 1 December feels like a million years ago, but it seemed to have flashed by very quickly. I’ve enjoyed every moment of it and the ups and down and the emotions are just part and parcel of football and being a player or manager in that.
“I definitely don’t wake up any morning not looking forward to doing my job, so it’s a good place to be and hopefully we can continue doing that.
“From the moment I walked out at King Power Stadium on 19 December for the Birmingham game and heard the crowd and how much they got behind us, and then again against Brighton in January, it was crucial support for important three points in terms of our campaign.
“Something feels special about King Power Stadium when you’re there and I think our players will go into this weekend’s game with the mindset they had for those games and they’ll want to put a performance on to thank the fans for all their support this year. The icing on the cake will be if they can take some points and put the league to bed.”