COVENTRY United Ladies manager Jay Bradford insists “losing is not an option” ahead of the Red and Greens survival showdown with Watford on Sunday (May 1).
United could pull off one of English football’s greatest escapes with a win at Vicarage Road despite being hit with a 10-point deduction in January after they entered voluntary liquidation just before Christmas.
That left Coventry rooted to the foot of the Women’s Championship table on minus four points, 10 points from safety with 11 matches to play.
However, a remarkable seven-game unbeaten run means Coventry are now just one win from safety and know only a victory will secure their Championship status.
Bradford said: “It’s been the story every week, we had to win last week and we got the job done – Sunday is no different, losing just is not an option.
“We wouldn’t be in the position that we are if we had the attitude of ‘we might do it, we might not’ we showed that last week.”
Assistant coach Jo Potter said: “We do our homework week in, week out, we highlight certain players and we have a great team of staff that do their work and give us a really good profile of what we’re going to come up against.
“We can then go on the pitch and do our work and get the girls ready, we’ve been consistent week in, week out, that’s shown in our performances.
“We’ve not changed massively in what we’ve done because we’ve believed in our process and trusted in the process and so have the girls – we need three points on Sunday.”
Potter added: “Other teams have had a soft spot for us because of what happened, the feeling around managers, teammates and staff was that everyone thought the points deduction was harsh.
“There’s nothing we can do about it, we couldn’t cry and sulk about it, we had to get on with our job and prove that we are good enough to be in this league.
“I’m just really glad for this group of staff and group of players that we can prove that, we’ve got one more game to prove that.”
Coventry’s match with Watford takes place on Sunday, May 1 with kick-off at 2pm at Vicarage Road.
The match will be shown live on the FA Player website a link to which is included below.