‘We’re no walkovers and we don’t deserve to be bottom’
FOXES STRIKER O’BRIEN SAYS IT’S A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THEY PICK UP POINTS
DEFIANT Shannon O’Brien insists Leicester City are no Barclays FA Women’s Super League walkover and their position in the table is an unfair reflection of their promising top-flight displays, writes Will Jennings, of Sportsbeat.
The Foxes’ wait for a first point of the season continued in agonising fashion last weekend as a last-gasp Brighton winner inflicted their seventh defeat out of seven.
Jonathan Morgan’s side stormed to a memorable Championship title last term but after struggling to adapt to life at the women’s top table, lie bottom, one point off 11th place Birmingham and hauling themselves out of the drop zone.
Forward O’Brien, 20, admits Sunday’s defeat on the south coast was tough to take but issued a rousing rallying cry ahead of Sunday’s home clash against Everton.
She said: “I think teams know that just because we are bottom, we are not a walkover and a team that they can turn up and beat, because that’s not what happens.
“We take every team right to the end and you can see very clearly there is progress and we’re moving in the right direction.
“Our performances are getting better and better and it’s only a matter of time before we start picking up points.
“I don’t think we deserve to be where we are, based on our performances.
“We’ve just got to move on to the next game and hopefully get those points.”
Reflecting on the defeat at Brighton, O’Brien said: “We didn’t deserve it in the slightest, it was obvious we didn’t deserve that.
“We can’t put anything against our own performance. We were brilliant and we didn’t deserve it.
“It’s just a hard one to take, but we can’t do anything about it now, we’ve got to move on from it and we can take a lot from it.”
Morgan’s players battled admirably throughout a hard-fought 90
LEICESTER City Women secured their first win in the Continental Tyres League Cup group stage with a 2-1 victory at 10-woman Durham on Wednesday night.
Shannon O’Brien got her first goal of the season with a smart finish from Sophie Howard’s cross in the 51st minute.
A decisive second came five minutes later when Molly Pike poked home her maiden Foxes goal from close range, getting on the end of Jess Sigsworth’s dangerous ball into the box.
FA Championship opponents Durham, who had Abby Holmes sent off just before half-time, half, pulled a goal back with 10 minutes left, Lily Crosthwaite hammering in a fierce shot into the far top corner. minutes but were punished at the death by a stoppage-time Maisie Symonds free-kick.
The result against Hope Powell’s high-flyers – who lie in the European places in third – extended Leicester’s losing run after early season defeats against West Ham, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Chelsea.
The Foxes welcome fellow strugglers Everton to Burton’s Pirelli Stadium tomorrow afternoon.
The Toffees sit just two places above them – on seven points – after a similarly tricky start to the campaign.
Everton axed manager Willie Kirk last month and held Casey Stoney’s Manchester United to a gritty 1-1 draw on home soil last weekend.
City defender Abbie McManus, 28, agrees with O’Brien’s positivity and believes an upturn in fortunes is just around the corner.
Also speaking to the club’s official website, she said: “We’re going back to the training ground, we’re grafting and it’s just not coming.
“But we’re going to keep pushing and hopefully it will come soon.
“We now want to put in another performance that we’re proud of.
“I can tell you from the chats we’ve had with Jonathan we’re proud of that performance we’ve just put in against Brighton.”
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