Bedford: An Opportunity Awaits

Next Match | Saturday 2 May Sat 2 May

BLB

(A)

07 D

09 H

29 M

10 S

Interviews & Features

Heritage

Photos

Bedford: An Opportunity Awaits

Lydia Bedford believes LCFC Women cannot dwell on past disappointments and must look at focusing on the current task in hand.

2022-10-30T08:15:00.000Z

by Sam Jones

Published

30 Oct, 2022

Bedford: An Opportunity Awaits

Lydia Bedford believes LCFC Women cannot dwell on past disappointments and must look at focusing on the current task in hand.

Sam Jones

2022-10-30T08:15:00.000Z

Bedford: An Opportunity Awaits

Lydia Bedford believes LCFC Women cannot dwell on past disappointments and must look at focusing on the current task in hand.

Sam Jones

2022-10-30T08:15:00.000Z

Bedford: An Opportunity Awaits

Lydia Bedford believes LCFC Women cannot dwell on past disappointments and must look at focusing on the current task in hand.

Sam Jones

2022-10-30T08:15:00.000Z

Bedford: An Opportunity Awaits

Lydia Bedford believes LCFC Women cannot dwell on past disappointments and must look at focusing on the current task in hand.

Sam Jones

2022-10-30T08:15:00.000Z

The Foxes travel to Select Car Leasing Stadium on Sunday afternoon, tackling Reading in what is a battle between two sides sitting at the foot of the Barclays Women’s Super League table.

Both teams are yet to pick up a point this term, adding extra significance to this weekend’s 2pm GMT kick-off. Ahead of travelling down to Berkshire, the manager gave her pre-match thoughts in Friday’s pre-match press conference at Belvoir Drive…

Raring to go

Despite the extra pressure, and the disappointment of losing 4-0 to Liverpool in the Continental Tyres League Cup on Wednesday, the group are well prepared for the next WSL encounter.

“There’s a real buzz about the training session that we’ve just finished,” the 35-year-old revealed. “We ended with some finishing and the ball was firmly hitting the net on a number of occasions.

“We’ve been able to get out on the pitch with everyone being as fresh as they possibly can be. It’s a great opportunity. We’ve been really competitive against some good sides this season so far.

“As it stands, we haven’t come away with any points as a result of those performances, but I don’t think one game will define the season. We know that there’s an opportunity this weekend to put on a performance that deserves points and to come away with them.

“Obviously, if we don’t, we’ll have to keep pushing next week to put ourselves in a position to keep fighting for those points, but we see this as one where, as a squad, we’re ready to go, we’re raring for the game.”

The significance of a win

Victory over Reading would provide the psychological boost of the Foxes hauling themselves off the bottom of the WSL standings. But with just five games gone this term, there is no need for panic at this stage, Bedford believes.

She continued: “We’ll do everything within our power to come out with the points. And if we don’t, we’ll reflect, pick ourselves up and go again. There are many more games that we feel we can be competitive in this season.

“But for us, the most important thing is that every little thing that we can control out of this weekend, we take care of, to put ourselves in the best possible position to perform.

“For me, the biggest thing about the three points would be that it’s affirmation of all the hard work the players have put in other the past five games, because they deserve to have more than nothing.

“There will probably be a bit of a sigh of relief across the board and elation if that result goes the way we want it to. For me, right now now, where they sit does not reflect how they have performed in games.

“And that’s how we feel every week. If we pick up those points, it will be about putting us in a position that more reflects where we deserve to be. And hopefully giving us a platform to then push on.”

A word on the opposition

The Royals have conceded the same amount of goals as Leicester (10) in their four league games, losing out to Manchester United, Brighton & Hove Albion, Arsenal and West Ham United, as well as a defeat against Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup.

The former England Under-19s coach analysed: “Reading are always a well organised, hard-working team. Kelly [Chambers] has put a lot of work into the club over a number of years. We played them in pre-season in what was a really hotly contested game.

“We’ve seen some very similar trends in how they started the season to what we experienced in pre-season. They’ll try to press you in high areas and try to win the ball back in those areas to punish.

“But they’ve conceded goals that we would look at and say our defensive qualities mean we wouldn’t concede such goals, if that was us. From our perspective, it’s about putting on a defensively resilient performance.

“That will make it difficult for them to pick up little bits and then really starting to show some of our in possession flair, which came out last week if you watch the second half against Man Utd, but probably didn’t get capitalised on.

“We know Reading are an organised side, but I think it will be a good spectacle at the weekend and we’ll give everything we can to walk away with something from the game.”

LATEST HEADLINES

City Draw With Millwall On Filbert Way We drew 1-1 with Millwall in Friday’s night’s Sky Bet Championship fixture at King Power Stadium.

4 Hours 55 Mins Ago

PL2 Play-Offs Defeat For City's U21s Our Under-21s concluded their 25/26 Premier League 2 campaign with a 1-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur in the Play-Offs Round of 16.

5 Hours 30 Mins Ago

Team News: Leicester City vs. Millwall The Leicester City XI and subs have been confirmed for tonight's Sky Bet Championship test against Millwall.

8 Hours 15 Mins Ago

U18s Lose Out To Saints City's Under-18s were on the wrong side of a 3-1 scoreline against Southampton in U18 Premier League South on Friday.

9 Hours 30 Mins Ago

LATEST PHOTOS

Leicester City 1 Millwall 1 Match imagery from the Foxes' Sky Bet Championship home clash with Millwall.

16 Hours 45 Mins Ago

Leicester City 2 Hull City 2

21 Apr, 2026

Hull Preparations In Seagrave A look at Monday's training session at LCFC Training Ground as our encounter with Hull City nears.

20 Apr, 2026

Portsmouth 1 Leicester City 0 Match imagery from our Sky Bet Championship clash with Pompey on the South Coast.

18 Apr, 2026