JAY Bradford feels her side’s win against Watford was a “turning point” as Coventry United Ladies return to league action against Blackburn Rovers this weekend.
United won 3-0 against the Hornets in the Continental Cup in their final fixture before the international break with Charlie Estcourt, Katie Wilkinson and Olivia Fergusson scoring the goals.
That success provided the Red and Greens with their first win of the season having endured a difficult start to their FA Women’s Championship campaign where they have lost five of their six matches.
However, boss Bradford hopes her players can use the momentum from their win against Watford to secure their first three points in the league when they travel to Blackburn this weekend.
Bradford said: “The Watford game was probably our turning point – we just need to make sure we do all those good things that we’ve been working on.
“We haven’t actually been playing too badly we just needed a result to go our way to relax and fully believe in what we’re working on and what we’re doing.
“Blackburn are tough, they’re organised, they’re nice and physical – it’s not an easy task going there – they got promoted in the same year we did.
“It’s always a battle – we’re hoping to go there and put our stamp on the game and come away with the three points.
“There’s always pressure but there’s no more pressure than we put on ourselves and I put on myself.
“When we don’t win – I definitely take it personally – I go home and make sure I’m doing everything I can for the team and hopefully that will start bringing results.”
And having had two weeks to work with her squad, Bradford is feeling positive about her team’s chances at the Sir Tom Finney Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Bradford added: “We went into the international break off the back of beating Watford – in terms of positivity and feeling good it’s been a really good two week process.
“We’ve just been working on us and focusing on how we want to play and making sure everybody within the squad knows what that looks like.
“It was a little bit frustrating – but the positive side of it is that we’ve had two weeks to look back at the Watford game and really pick apart out why we won and we played so well.
“On the one hand you want to bounce straight into the next game but on the other hand being given this time is a really positive thing as well.
“As staff we’re getting better at utilising the international breaks and using them as an opportunity that maybe we can’t do when we’re preparing for a fixture.”
Coventry face Blackburn on Sunday, October 31 with kick-off at 2pm at the Sir Tom Finney Stadium.
