- Sophie Howard looks back on LCFC Women’s 2-0 home reverse
- Leicester were beaten by Aston Villa at King Power Stadium
- The defender felt City were the better team for large spells
- Finding their first goal of the WSL season is key, she believes
Rachel Daly opened the scoring for the Villans from the penalty spot just three minutes in and Emily Gielnik secured the visitors’ victory late on, consigning Leicester to a second successive home defeat.
It was another challenging afternoon for the Foxes, who toiled throughout the game without seriously testing Villa goalkeeper Hannah Hampton. Yet to score in the Barclays Women’s Super League this term, Howard believes putting the ball in the back of the net is a responsibility that the whole team share.
“I think we were dominant, we controlled most of the game,” she told LCFC TV following full-time. “But in the end, we conceded two and didn’t score, so that’s why we lost. We need to analyse that as a group. It wasn’t good enough, because we lost again, and we have zero points.
“The positive is that we are competing and, for most spells of the game, we were the better team. We were unfortunate to concede that penalty so early on. Especially because I don’t think it was a penalty. Sometimes, that can break you apart, but we definitely didn’t fall apart.
“The response was great – we were on the front foot, we were aggressive, we took the game to them, so credit to the team for responding that way. We had a few chances in the first half, we should have probably equalised, we didn’t, and then towards the end we were going for it and it opened up a little and we conceded another one.”
The centre-back is confident that City have what it takes to pick themselves up and go again, especially given that their next fixture is just a few days away, against Everton on Thursday, before also travelling to face Blackburn Rovers on Sunday in the Continental Tyres League Cup.
The 29-year-old continued: “We worked in pre-season to be an unbreakable team. That’s who we want to be and the identity we want to live by. We’re never going to give up. We’ve shown it twice. Now we need to add to that to get some points on the board.
“Once we get that first goal, we’ll go for it, and we’ll be rolling. So far, we’ve been quite unfortunate. We’ve created a few chances today, we just didn’t score, myself included. It’s not just the strikers, we all need to take responsibility for that. Even from set plays, we need to be better, because that’s one of our strengths.
“In the end, it’s 11 vs. 11. Of course, we’re away, we’re travelling – that’s not always easy. It’s a midweek game, so a quick turnaround, but Everton have got the same situation, they are just obviously at home.
“But we have the opportunity to respond quickly, show what we can actually do and finally get some points on the board. Not only do we want to respond, but we have to respond.”
Although unable to take full advantage of playing in front of their own fans, the Scotland international reserved praise for the Blue Army after experiencing their support in back-to-back home matches on Filbert Way.
“It felt like home here last year and it definitely feels like home this year as well,” the former Reading defender claimed. “You can hear the fans from minute one and throughout the whole game.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t given them three points yet, but we can hear them, and we feel like we’ve got an extra player on pitch through having them.”