Oxford United Women are in high spirits after their third consecutive win without reply sent them to the top of the Southern Premier Division yesterday.
A 1-0 victory courtesy of a Carly Johns goal away at Gillingham makes it nine games unbeaten in the League, having only conceded three goals.
Player of the Match, Shelly Provan said:
“For us as a back five a clean sheet is always what we are aiming for but it was a tough game. It’s always hard scoring early and then trying to keep that lead and they gave us a lot to think about. The last five minutes were a very good game to watch from both sides.”
The marauding full-back was excellent down the left-hand side, defending with strength but also being Oxford’s most dangerous player on the attack.
“It’s something I haven’t done in a number of game so it’s something that I wanted to get into positions to be able to do. The girls have rotated in a way that’s allowed me to have space to do that.”
Manager Liam Gilbert was enthused by the way his side stuck to their game despite the horrible conditions but urged his side to be more clinical.
“I thought we were brilliant. The energy, the patterns and movements that we bought out. We should have scored more goals, Gillingham are a well organised, gritty team and they stayed in the game throughout. We need to be a little bit better at being more clinical and putting teams to bed.”
“The way that we played today was a collective effort. The amount of times we won the ball back in the final third was excellent, and the way that was balanced at the back was great.” added Gilbert.
The U’s now look to take that form into an exciting home Women’s FA Cup tie against Chesham United Ladies at Court Place Farm this Sunday. Kick off is at 2 PM.
There will be a special Women’s preview show on iFollow this week in preparation.