We'll Move On Quickly, Says O'Brien
- LCFC Women were narrowly beaten by Aston Villa at Pirelli Stadium
- The 1-0 defeat saw the Villans move above City in the WSL
- Shannon O'Brien says thoughts will quickly turn to Wednesday
- The Foxes face Everton in the Continental Tyres League Cup
A closely fought Barclays Women's Super League clash at Pirelli Stadium ended with Aston Villa claiming victory courtesy of Rachel Daly's 16th-minute goal. Leicester, meanwhile, were left rueing missed opportunities that could have potentially turned the game on its head, as O'Brien explained.
"It was a tough test," the England Under-23s international reflected. "I don't think we really played as well as we could have or played the football that we could have. It was quite a physical game and turned into more of a battle.
"It's disappointing. I think we had the chances to win the game. If you look back, we had three or four chances to win it or even to draw and get something out of it - we just didn't take them.
"It shows that we didn't give up and we were relentless to get something, but just lacked that clinical edge. We've just got to take the positives that we created the chances, but need to be a bit more clinical next time and move onto Wednesday quite quickly. We can only improve."
Due back in Burton on Wednesday evening for a Continental Tyres League Cup showdown with Everton (7pm GMT kick-off), all focus will turn to that fixture and the opportunity to reach the knockout stages of the competition.
The 23-year-old continued: "We know it's not King Power Stadium but we're used to it now and we know what to expect. Everton is a quick turnaround which is a good thing.
"We don't want to dwell on it too much. We can go in tomorrow (Saturday) and reflect and then go straight into the Conti Cup and try and get into the quarter-finals, which would be exciting.
"It takes the pressure off and takes everything out of this game to change your mindset completely. We're going for three points to try and progress, which I think we can do with the squad of players that we have. It'll be nice to get our minds off it and be ready to go again."
Having missed the end of 2023 due to injury, the attacker was pleased to be able to contribute again, having come through over an hour of the contest and also featured in the Adobe Women's FA Cup success at Derby County.
"It's been really nice to be back," she added. "It was quite a tough year but now I'm back flying, ready to go again and happy to get another start and try and help the team as much as possible. I'm still trying to get there but doing my best and feeling good."