- Jonathan Morgan provided his reaction to LCFC Women’s defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion
- The Foxes were defeated 1-0 at AMEX Stadium after a valiant performance on the south coast
- Maise Symonds’ free-kick proved to be the difference on Sunday afternoon
- He'll now pick the players up to go again with two games coming up next week
The Foxes looked set to pick up their first point in the top flight at AMEX Stadium on Sunday afternoon – and looked good value for a draw – until a stunning free-kick from Maisie Symonds deep in injury time.
Following a real battle to stay on level terms and then go on and almost win the game following some late opportunities of their own, City were dealt a cruel blow right at the end, much to Morgan's frustration.
“It’s just very disappointing,” he told LCFC TV after full-time. “Again, it shows the ruthlessness at this level. We fought so hard, we played so well, everything we worked on worked for a large majority.
“I think we stopped Brighton playing the way that Brighton normally play. Take nothing away from Brighton, they are a good team. The free-kick was obviously fantastic and you just saw it from that angle, you know it was going in from the moment it left her foot.
“It’s just heartbreaking for the girls. It’s my job to pick them back up and focus on these positives and really show that actually they’ve just competed to the very end yet again with a top three team and we'll just work on that.”
After another promising away performance from the Foxes, who travelled to an in-form Brighton side and almost took something from the game, Morgan felt the gutsy display demonstrated that the team are heading in the right direction, despite being yet to record a win in the top flight.
He will now aim to pick the players up ahead of tackling Durham in the Continental Tyres League Cup on Wednesday, followed by Sunday’s WSL meeting with Everton.
City’s manager continued: “From our point of view, we know that our job is to stay up this year and I think the girls are doing so well. We’ve had a lot of injuries and a lot of things have set us back at the early part of the season that we’re now starting to get over.
“We had our chances. I don’t think Brighton had any clear-cut chances if I’m honest, I think we had the clearer chances in terms of Georgia Brougham’s header from a corner, Tash Flint at the end, Esmee [De Graaf] went through in the first half as well.
“We’ve got to just learn from that. I don’t think it’s about learning from the football side now; it’s about learning how to bounce back and that’s what the girls will do now.
“They are a strong group of girls, they are resilient, they worked tremendously hard and they’ll continue to do that this week. Yes, they will be disappointed, we’ll let them get over that and then we’ll just move on.
“But, for me, they’ll pick themselves up. I know that’s what they’ve got in them. We come back every game and every game, we’re looking better and better, which for me says something about their mentality.”