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Bedford: Successive Victories Give Us A Platform To Build

LCFC Women manager Lydia Bedford described Sunday’s victory over Birmingham City as crucial to their aim of remaining in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League.

2022-02-07T13:07:53.205Z

by Sam Jones

Published

07 Feb, 2022

Bedford: Successive Victories Give Us A Platform To Build

LCFC Women manager Lydia Bedford described Sunday’s victory over Birmingham City as crucial to their aim of remaining in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League.

Sam Jones

2022-02-07T13:07:53.205Z

Bedford: Successive Victories Give Us A Platform To Build

LCFC Women manager Lydia Bedford described Sunday’s victory over Birmingham City as crucial to their aim of remaining in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League.

Sam Jones

2022-02-07T13:07:53.205Z

Bedford: Successive Victories Give Us A Platform To Build

LCFC Women manager Lydia Bedford described Sunday’s victory over Birmingham City as crucial to their aim of remaining in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League.

Sam Jones

2022-02-07T13:07:53.205Z

Bedford: Successive Victories Give Us A Platform To Build

LCFC Women manager Lydia Bedford described Sunday’s victory over Birmingham City as crucial to their aim of remaining in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League.

Sam Jones

2022-02-07T13:07:53.205Z

- Sunday’s 2-1 triumph at Birmingham City has boosted LCFC Women’s survival bid- First-half strikes from Jess Sigsworth and Jemma Purfield secured the three points- Lydia Bedford spoke to LCFC TV in the aftermath of a second consecutive victory- The Foxes were able to stand firm and see out the win despite Louise Quinn’s goal

A 2-1 scoreline at St. Andrew’s Trillion Trophy Stadium earned Leicester’s first-ever top-flight away success and a vital win that moves the Foxes five clear of the Blues at the foot of the WSL standings.

It was also a second successive victory across all competitions after last weekend’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup progression at Tottenham Hotspur and Bedford discussed the importance of being able to continue that momentum when speaking to LCFC TV post-match.

“I think they are critical,” she said on taking all three points. “It gives us a bit of a buffer now, but I don’t think today’s game will define our season. “We’ve had the FA Cup [win] and then this week, but there’s still lots more for us to build on and do.

“Today gives us a good platform to continue confidently with our game plan going forward. It was a really professional performance from the girls in the first half and we spoke at half-time about what we thought the second half would look like and it probably played out exactly as we expected it would.

“It was almost a game of two halves. I think the occasion in the second half probably got the better of us a few times. We knew Birmingham would come out fighting and unfortunately there were some moments in there where we could have been more clinical to put that game to bed a lot sooner than we did.

“We did create some good chances, we should have put them away and the post was our biggest enemy today.”

The visitors were potent in front of goal during a dominant first 45 minutes, however, with Jemma Purfield scoring straight from a corner less than 10 minutes after Jess Sigsworth converted from the spot to hand Leicester the lead.

The penalty incident, when Sigsworth was brought down by Emily Ramsey, also led to the Birmingham ‘keeper being shown a straight red card, leaving the home side down to 10 players for the majority of the contest.

“I didn’t really see the situation as it unfolded to know the outcome,” Bedford admitted. “But for us, the penalty definitely gave us a little bit of wind underneath our sails to be able to move forward in that first half and get to half-time really comfortable, which was brilliant.

“She (Jemma Purfield) has done that a few times now. I think she did it against Aston Villa and Man Utd in the Conti Cup as well, so it’s becoming a bit of a habit and I like that habit so hopefully she can keep doing it.”

January recruit Esther Morgan was handed her Foxes debut as a substitute, while Natasha Flint, Sophie Barker and Paige Bailey-Gayle - the latter on her 50th appearance for the Club - all made an impact from the bench to help see out the win after the Blues edged back into the game courtesy of Louise Quinn’s late goal.

“It was good that we could make changes and bring players on,” the ex-England youth coach continued. “She (Esther Morgan) has shown some great composure this week in training, and it was an opportunity to get her on the pitch and give her a little runout.

“Ultimately sometimes that breaks the momentum and that, alongside lots of fouls and breaks of play, made it difficult for either side to really build in that half, which probably impacted our ability to create more goals.”

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