- LCFC Women fell to a 4-0 reverse against Manchester City at Academy Stadium
- The Foxes sit four points above the relegation zone with two games remaining
- Jemma Purfield reflected on Sunday’s defeat and pointed to the positives
- The defender says focus is quickly shifting to this weekend’s match with Reading
Goals from Caroline Weir, Lauren Hemp, Julie Blakstad and Alex Greenwood condemned Leicester to a 4-0 defeat by Manchester City at City Academy Stadium on Sunday, as the Foxes were beaten for the fifth consecutive Barclays FA Women’s Super League match.
It was always going to be a tough ask to take points from the top four sides in the division – with City facing all four in the last five games - but speaking to LCFC TV post-match, Purfield felt progress was there in terms of the performance level.
“I think it was improved from the last performance and that was something we aimed to do today,” the full-back, who played 90 minutes in Manchester, reflected. “We were harder to break down and we put a shift in and those are the positives that we’ll have to take.
“Of course, you always go out wanting a result, but I think at the end of the day we had to make sure it improved, whatever happened, and it was today so we can take some of those positives and go into Reading flying this week.”
Discussing Lydia Bedford’s half-time talk, the defender revealed that the team knew the importance of avoiding a repeat of previous fixtures against Arsenal and Chelsea, which ended in heavy losses after conceding several goals in quick succession.
“We just said it was a clean slate and we go out 0-0 again and that we’re playing for everything,” she explained. “I think we showed that in the second half, we showed our structure, our composure and staying organised and our communication was good as well, so those are the things that we just have to take forward.
“We knew that there would be options on the counter attack at times. That’s important when we’re playing in that shape that we allow ourselves to also get up the pitch when the time is right, so I think we executed that a few times and it was more positive, and we’ve got to take that.”
Heading into games against Reading and Tottenham Hotspur sitting 11th in the table, with 12th-placed Birmingham City four points behind and currently occupying the only relegation spot, the group’s togetherness and spirit will be required to get over the line, the 23-year-old believes.
The ex-Liverpool youngster added: “We rotated today, and everyone had a part to play. That’s why the squad is so important. It was great to see Connie [Scofield] get back on after a couple of injuries and Paige [Bailey-Gayle] came on and made a difference as well, so all the rotations that we had were good and it’s positive to have so many players getting minutes.
“That’s our aim now moving forward. We’ve had three very tough tests which of course we wanted to get something out of, but we are where we are so now we reflect on that, we dust ourselves down and we’ve got two massive games coming up.”