My Biggest Achievement So Far, Says Kirk

- LCFC Women beat Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 on the final day of the season
- Ava Baker netted the winning goal at Broadfield Stadium
- The win confirmed Barclays Women’s Super League safety for the Foxes
- City finished 10th in the standings in what was their highest ever WSL finish

On the last day of the season, survival rested in Leicester’s hands, as they arrived to Broadfield Stadium on Saturday afternoon, two points and one space above Reading, who welcomed Chelsea at the same time.

A second-half goal from young winger Ava Baker confirmed the Foxes' space in the top flight of English football for next season, as Kirk’s side concluded the 2022/23 campaign in 10th position, overtaking Brighton on goal difference.

“I’ve got mixed emotions,” the manager told LCFC TV. “Ranging from pride to delight, it's quite emotional, in terms of the hard work that we've all put in and come through it together. It's been a difficult season, but it's been such a positive ending, and I'm so proud of the players and the staff for everything they've done in the last five months.

“We felt it was a missed opportunity last week (against West Ham United). We were really frustrated with last week and not winning that game. Never mind taking something from it, we wanted to win it.

“That's good because it shows ambition and we're greedy and I think greed is good, when you're talking about high-performance sport. We feel we should’ve finished even higher than 10th.

“It's an improvement on last year, which I think is all we can ask for, especially after the opening nine games. I'm so glad that we aren't talking about Reading failing, but we're talking about Leicester achieving, and these players have created a little bit of history for themselves because no team has ever turned around a seven-point deficit before.”

Heading into the final match, Baker held the record for the youngest player to feature for City, and also the accolade for the youngest goalscorer for the Club. After the full-time whistle, Kirk was keen to commend the efforts of the talented youngster, and states that the 17-year-old has a bright future ahead of her.

“Ava scored in one of the important games that’s been underplayed,” the manager continued. “We beat Sunderland in the Continental Tyres League Cup in January before we played Brighton & Hove Albion the last time and she got a couple in that one, and an assist.

“It was really important to develop that winning mentality, and Ava's been brilliant. She was really disappointed on Tuesday after losing the Under-17 Women's UEFA EURO Semi-Final with England against Spain and she got home late Thursday night.

“She trained yesterday, she looked bright, and she's also come on today and got the winning goal. It's certainly not going to be the last goal that Ava Baker scores for Leicester.”

Even if the Foxes had lost their last game of the season, on the road to Brighton, survival would still have been confirmed due to Chelsea winning 3-0 over Reading, on their way to a fourth consecutive league title.

But the manager was thrilled to silence any critics, and finish the season on a high, as City recorded their highest ever finish in the WSL, and five points ahead of the relegated Royals.

He added: “To be seven points behind, with 13 games to go is a fantastic turnaround. Everybody gets motivated in their own way. I get a big kick out of proving people wrong, and so many people wrote us off. They said it was done. There was no relegation fight this year, Leicester were down.

“We got three points against Brighton, and then later on we got the win against Reading and it lifted us off the bottom of the table. I started talking about 10th and people started laughing, saying that's ridiculous, that they're even talking about 10th. They're just off the bottom of the league.

“So to go and get 10th, and to go and ram it down the throats of some people who create their podcasts and never believed in us, people are going to start believing in us now.

“We’ve got more points, a higher league place, more goals, more wins, more clean sheets and less goals conceded. So those six improvements make the league table look a hell of a lot brighter than it did five months ago. It's a realyl good achievement - a great achievement. I think it gives us a really solid platform now for the future.”

While the Scotsman is no stranger to achieving league safety, he admits that Saturday’s victory is probably the best moment of his career.

“I think there's been some really proud moments during my coaching career,” the former Everton manager explained. “I have some good memories at Hibernian, Bristol City with promotion, escaping relegation at Everton and taking them to a cup final.

“There's been so many highs, but I think with the enormity of the task, this is probably the biggest one to date, just because it's never been done before. Nobody can take that away from any of us, myself, the players, or the staff. I think it probably tops everything else so far.”