Albion Women head coach Siobhan Hodgetts-Still and attacker Simran Jhamat both believe “togetherness” was key to their FAWNL Cup progression on Sunday.
Jhamat scored two as the Baggies were taken to penalties by Northampton Town following a 3-3 draw after extra time.
Hodgetts-Still insists her side can take positives from a battling display at Ray Hall Lane, which saw Albion advance into round two.
“I don’t think we were good enough in the first half, especially in possession,” Hodgetts-Still said. “At half-time agreed we weren’t good enough and spoke as a group about what we needed to do better.
“I thought in the second half we came out brighter and on the front foot. We created some good moments.
“Credit to the opposition who came here and made things difficult for us. We had to find solutions to the problems that they gave us.
“We have a great team spirit and games like this bring that out. We came together and second half I thought we came out and played better.
“The resilience we showed was great. Credit to the players for their performance.
“We created some really good opportunities and moments during those periods. I thought their goals were probably a bit too easy, so there are areas to work on.
“For us, it’s a cup game and anything can happen. We’re glad to get a win and take ourselves forward with that.”
Forward Jhamat bagged a brace, including a 120th-minute equaliser to wrestle the game to a penalty shootout, before scoring the winning spot-kick.
“We got there in the end,” Jhamat said. “We made things difficult for ourselves and the hard work paid off in the end.
“We had some great penalties and some great saves from Shan. It was good and we’re glad we got there.
“It’s always nice to score and help the team. It’s all about the players around me too, without them I can’t score.
“I’m glad to be in amongst the goals, helping the team.”
The Baggies turn their attentions back to the FAWNL Northern Premier Division next week, where they face a long trip to Hull City, one Hodgetts-Still and Jhamat can take encouragement into.
“I think we can take a lot of positives going from today,” Jhamat said. “We’re going a day before so our togetherness will be even stronger.
“We think we can take a lot of confidence into Hull."
As for Hodgetts-Still, Hull will provide a different test to the one experienced against the Cobblers.
“We’re going to head back into training and fix some of the problems we found today,” Hodgetts-Still said. “We need to look at Hull and prepare in the right way.
“Hopefully we can continue with another win like we did against Stourbridge.”
