A New Focus - Bedford’s Pre-Blackburn Thoughts

- Lydia Bedford speaks prior to LCFC Women's trip to face Blackburn Rovers Ladies
- The pair face off in the Continental Tyres League Cup on Sunday (2pm kick-off)
- Entering a different competition will be a positive for the Foxes, the manager says
- Leicester have lost their opening three Barclays Women's Super League games 

Meeting Barclays Women’s Championship side Blackburn Rovers in a 2pm kick-off at Sir Tom Finney Stadium on Sunday afternoon provides an opportunity to park a difficult start to the league season.

Being able to press the reset button and turn attention to a different challenge will benefit the squad’s morale and mentality, Bedford believes, after a sucker-punch injury-time goal denied the Foxes picking up their first Barclays Women’s Super League point at Everton on Thursday.

Speaking to LCFC TV, she said: “Sunday is a new competition, and we go again. They (the players) do it themselves. Even before I spoke in the huddle (after the Everton game), two or three players had spoken already, which probably helped actually, as it gave me a chance to collect my thoughts.

“They are not silly - they watch the games. They are part of it, they know what they have produced. I think as long as they keep their eyes firmly focused on that, they’ll pick themselves up and go again.

“And going into this weekend, it will be a really good chance for the players to forget what is happening in the league and just focus on our performances as a group.”

The manager hinted at possible changes to the starting XI for the trip to Lancashire, which comes less than 72 hours after a gruelling battle with the Toffees.

CJ Bott, Missy Goodwin and Natasha Flint were all introduced to the action on Thursday, though the latter was then replaced herself by Connie Scofield after picking up a knock during the second half.

The 35-year-old explained: “I think it’s good that it’s a different competition and a chance for some players to get more minutes than perhaps what they’ve had in the league. But I think [on Thursday night] we’ve brought four players on, and they’ve obviously had different impacts in their own way.

“We’ve got a few that weren’t able to feature, so it’ll be really important for us going into Sunday that we can freshen the group up and give opportunities to different players.”

Taking heart from the way Leicester were able to perform in cup ties last term, including a memorable extra-time away victory over Tottenham Hotspur, Bedford is hoping for more of the same from the team.

“The priority is the league,” the ex-England youth international coach added. “It always will be at the moment. But as I experienced last year with the FA Cup, when all the pressure is off, suddenly we took Spurs to a 3-2 thriller. So, I think when you come to cup competitions, there’s a different spirit around them.”

All times BST.