Defeat will be a ‘kick up the backside’

Amy Saunders is hoping Maidenhead United’s defeat to Queens Park Rangers in the FAWNL Plate will be a kick up the backside for her players to work harder and be stronger for one another.

The Magpies captain saw signs of encouragement in Saturday’s 6-1 loss, recognising Gemma Bloor and Kajal Malhotra’s performance in defence, in spite of the heavy scoreline.

But, as Saunders affirmed, the side will need to emulate those efforts across the whole pitch and especially in their next fixture against Chesham.

“Our strength is working for each other and being compact, being hard to beat,” said the Magpies captain at fulltime on Saturday. “Unfortunately, I don’t think we showed much of that at all today.

“The crucial point in the game was at halftime, when we were 2-1 down.

“If we had pulled a goal back to make it 2-2, the match could’ve ended a different way.

“But credit to QPR, they stamped on us really and put the game to bed. It’s always hard to get something from a game when you’ve been put that far behind.

“There were some glimpses of good stuff. Kajal has great aerial ability and she won the ball many times today. Gemma was aggressive and got to the ball well. They’re a good pair and I think we would’ve conceded even more without them.”

Saunders added: “Hopefully this result is just a kick up the bum. Fans were here today to watch and support us, and we just didn’t turn up.

“We will have to look at the game, review what we’ve done well, what we can do better, and move forward in training.

“I think our next match, Chesham in the FA Cup, will be motivation itself. We’ve always had good battles with them. They beat us 1-0 in the last fixture so I would like to think we can give them another good game.”