Morgan Reflects On Narrow Lewes Loss
- LCFC Women suffered a rare FA Women's Championship defeat on Sunday, losing 1-0 to Lewes Women at The Dripping Pan
- Rookettes forward Ini Umotong scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot
- Manager Jonathan Morgan admits it was a deserved victory for the hosts, who ended City's 12-game winning streak
- He also credits the Foxes' recent run which saw them crowned second tier champions and earn a spot in the Barclays FA Women's Super League
Ini Umotong's first half penalty proved to be the difference between the two sides at The Dripping Pan as City failed to find the net in a league fixture for the first time this campaign.
And Morgan felt the home side deserved the three points for their performance over the 90 minutes, stifling Leicester's attack, so often potent in the final third, after grabbing an early opportunity to take the lead from the spot.
"It was a narrow loss but in reality we didn't look like we were going to score today," he admitted while speaking to LCFC TV in his post-interview.
"Fair play to Lewes, they worked tremendously hard and did exactly what we thought they were going to do, but our girls didn't really think about how to execute our game plan and it's something I've been saying to them all season actually.
"It's having that conscious thought about what we're trying to do to exploit teams. Today was one of those days where just nothing came off. It's just a disappointment really.
"The one thing that we do pride ourselves on is that we do try to play well out of possession with our effort but if I'm being brutally honest, I think there were too many gaps today, too many half-hearted challenges and we should have still been a little bit better.
"We felt that Lewes won a lot of the second balls today and a few of our girls worked tremendously hard, but not enough today."
The FA Women's Championship champions set a new league record by winning 12 consecutive matches in the division and although that impressive run came to an end on the south coast, Morgan believes the team can be immensely proud of their efforts over the last few months.
He has now challenged the Foxes to bounce back against Charlton Athletic in the final fixture of the 2020/21 league season on Sunday 3 May, when they will be presented with the Championship trophy.
He continued: "It was great, it was a record and I hope it's a record that isn't beaten for a while at this level. We're really pleased and really delighted, and most importantly, really proud of that achievement.
"We're a bit disappointed that it ended today, in the manner it ended, but it was going to end some time, so at least it's something now to take into next season to be at the back of our minds. The girls should be proud of that and that's one thing I did say to them at the end of the game.
"As we're aware, the trophy is going to be there on that day (against Charlton) and I did say to the girls, see how we feel about losing this game and imagine if we lose next week or don't play so well.
"We want to lift the trophy in style, we want to be happy, we want to be enjoying it, so we'll work very hard this week to make sure we beat Charlton next weekend."