Fylde defeat harsh lesson

DERBY County Women manager Sam Griffiths believes the setback of last weekend’s defeat to AFC Fylde Women could spur the squad on to stay in contention for promotion.

Despite a 4-1 scoreline, the Ewe Rams missed a host of chances to take the game away from the Coasters after skipper Amy Sims opened the scoring and Griffiths was left frustrated after old problems resurfaced that played a part in the defeat.

“The result for me was harsh,” she said. “The possession stats show that we pretty much dominated the game but you can’t deny them the points when they’ve put the ball in the back of the net and we haven’t.

“We’ve got options if we want to change things around a bit for Middlesbrough but we need to take a look at the video, look what we can change and look at both ends, keeping chances for the opposition down and then also working at taking our own chances.

“One of the things I’ve looked at this season is keeping everyone on their toes in terms of selection. Everyone is having to work to get a starting place and players are turning up on a match day still not sure if they are playing and that is helping to drive the standards up.

“We’ve had enough chances to put the Fylde game to bed and we have to be more clinical against teams that are in and around us. We played some of the best football of the season and have come away thinking how have we lost that one.”

Derby stay three points off the top of the National League Northern Division going into tomorrow’s away fixture against Middlesbrough Women (2pm).