Morgan Praises 'Gritty' LCFC Women Performance
- LCFC Women defeated Crystal Palace 1-0 at Farley Way Stadium on Sunday afternoon
- The result maintains the Foxes' position at the top of the FA Women's Championship table
- Manager Jonathan Morgan spoke to LCFC TV after the game, highlighting the team's gritty performance
- He was also delighted for goalscorer Hannah Cain, who netted on her home debut
Hannah Cain's 36th-minute goal put the Foxes ahead at Farley Way Stadium and it's a lead they held, despite several chances to make the scoreline look comfortable.
City picked up their eighth consecutive victory in the process, playing a league game for the first time since mid-January and Morgan was impressed with how his side reacted to such a long period without a fixture.
"We know that Crystal Palace are a very tough team," Morgan told LCFC TV in his post-match interview. "They are physical, they are demanding and they have a very strong counter-attacking threat.
"In fairness to them, they defended well. Palace put their bodies on the line and they made it very difficult for us. But I felt that we had a lot of chances today and on another day, I think we could have had three or four goals if I'm honest.
"For us, a 1-0 result and a win was definitely deserved, but at the same time, it was just waiting for that one chance for Palace to see what they could do and thankfully it never came. It was a gritty performance by the girls, it was a great performance considering we've been out of league action for seven weeks, so I'm really pleased with that."
Durham remain behind Leicester on goal difference and with another test approaching against London Bees at The Hive next Sunday (2pm GMT kick-off), all focus must immediately go into preparing for the trip to the capital, Morgan says.
He continued: "I think today we were fantastic. Tactically, mentally, physically we were sharp. The girls have worked hard in the last seven weeks, considering we've not had any league games and I don't think it showed.
"I just want to make sure that we just keep focusing on this now and keep moving forward to London Bees next week. And all that I can ask of the girls is just to leave everything out there like we did today.
"Palace are such a demanding team that we knew we had to be focused and it was just good to come back into this game knowing that we're sharp. All we've got to keep working on now is just finishing chances, but all in all, I'm very happy with that."
Cain's well-taken strike proved to be the difference between the two sides, netting on her home debut after spending the first half of the season out with a long-term injury.
Morgan was delighted to see the former Everton forward record her first goal for the Club and believes it is much deserved after a long road of recovery to get to that point.
"The whole squad and staff are extremely pleased for her," he said on Cain. "She's been through a bit of a traumatic time for her first part of her career with Leicester, not really being able to kick a ball after coming in injured.
"She definitely deserved it. She's been working hard in training to get that opportunity, I'm just glad that was the winning goal today. We've been working a lot with Hannah on some one-on-one stuff and we're just glad that she's bagged today to build on her confidence."