Albion Women Manager Siobhan Hodgetts-Still praised the “resilience and character” of her side as they defeated Derby County 2-0 on Sunday afternoon.
Two goals inside the last 15 minutes of proceedings from substitute Ali Miller and forward Rhianne Oakley handed the Baggies three well-earned FAWNL Northern Premier points.
The boss was delighted to see the players deliver a spirited showing at the Valley Stadium.
“I thought it was a really professional performance from us,” Hodgetts-Still said. “Other teams might’ve been affected by the result last week against Wolves when we lost 5-0, but we quickly put it behind us and that comes down to the resilience and character of this squad.
“For the neutral watching today, I’m sure it would've been a great game of football to take in. In and out of possession we did things well and picked our moments to press to win the ball higher up the pitch.
“At half-time we went through a few things about being smarter with the ball around their box, we went out and stuck to our gameplan. It was a great strike by Ali [Miller] to give us the lead, but what I liked is that we didn't sit back and invite the pressure from the opposition after we went ahead.
“We still went forwards, we still pressed in the right moments and that persistence from the front players led to the foul drawn in by Phoebe [Warner] that got us the penalty. It was a clinical strike from Rhianne [Oakley] who slotted it away really well.”
Goalkeeper Lavarna Johnson made her senior debut for the club after joining at the beginning of February, and she managed to overcome first-day nerves to guide Albion to a clean sheet.
“I was nervous at the start but this group of girls are a good bunch and helped keep me calm,” Johnson said. “I don’t think I’ll sleep tonight, I’ll be reliving lots of moments from the game.
“The back line and the team helped me, it’s not a solo effort – we all worked hard together. With it being my debut, I had the confidence in my back line to help me.
“I see it day in and day out in training how much the team work on keeping clean sheets. They’ve been unlucky over the last couple of weeks but they really do deserve it.”
Hodgetts-Still was especially pleased to see Johnson slot in seamlessly to the Baggies defensive unit at the first time of asking.
“As a coach there’s nothing better than seeing a young player thrive on their debut,” Hodgetts-Still beamed. “I couldn’t have asked more from her.
“At 18, to come into the team, communicate the way she did, show great distribution and act confidently, it was brilliant to see. I loved that her family were here to witness it too, they’ll be buzzing.”
