Tierney Hoping Foxes Can Come Back Stronger

- LCFC Women conclude 2021/22 with defeat against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday
- Ashleigh Neville scored the only goal of the game in north London
- Sam Tierney looks back on the Foxes’ maiden WSL campaign and lessons learnt
- The main target is to avoid another relegation battle next season, she says

Ashleigh Neville’s 49th-minute header meant that LCFC Women concluded the season in defeat at the impressive Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but thoughts have quickly turned to the future and how City can avoid finding themselves in a similar situation next year.

The versatile centre-back, who played most of the campaign as a midfielder, also praised the away support from the Blue Army who made their way to the capital to cheer the team on for one final time this season, part of a near 4,000 strong crowd in N17.

“We’re disappointed [to lose],” Tierney, 23, admitted to LCFC TV after full-time in north London. “It was a game we wanted to go out and finish on a bit of a high, but also start thinking towards the future and putting in a performance in for then.

“But at the end of the day, it’s been a very long season for us, physically and mentally draining. So, we had spells where we did well, but we’ll reflect on it and ultimately, it’s about next year now.

“It’s really nice here. It’s a great way to end our season and fantastic to see, credit to Tottenham for all the fans that came. Our fans that travelled, thank you to them. It’s been a really good occasion today.”

The Foxes end their maiden WSL campaign in 11th place, with four victories and a draw – all picked up following Lydia Bedford’s appointment in December – enough to finish two points above the relegation zone.

Focusing on the season as a whole and the pressures of fighting to stay in the division, the defender, who featured in all but one of Leicester’s 22 WSL matches, reflected on what has been a challenging debut year as a top-flight team.

“Anyone that’s been in a relegation battle knows every minute of every day you are stressing about it, you are thinking about it, the pressure is real,” she explained. “But that’s what we said going into this game, try and enjoy the game, it’s the first one we’ve been able to enjoy, but we’ve worked hard to get to this point.

“It’s a relief. Don’t get me wrong, I think when we started the season, we knew it would be tough, but you can’t really test how tough it’s going to be until you’re in it. We’re massively pleased to be able to say we can play in this league next year and hopefully we can push on from here.”