Bristol City Women head coach Steve Kirby stated that he was pleased with his side’s 1-0 win against Portsmouth but acknowledged that the Robins should have made things more comfortable.
City got off to a rapid start with Ffion Morgan opening the scoring in the first five minutes, rounding Portsmouth goalkeeper Eve Annets before finishing into an empty net.
Just minutes later, Kirby’s team were unfortunate not to extend their lead as top goalscorer Lexi Lloyd-Smith saw her effort cleared off the line before Morgan found herself one-on-one with Annets once again – though this time she was denied by the Pompey ‘keeper.
After a largely quiet following fifteen minutes, Sille Struck had the chance to extend the Robins’ lead following a corner but her header was just wide while Lloyd-Smith found herself through on goal but for another vital stop from Annets, before attempting what would have been an incredible strike from 30 yards out. However, her effort narrowly dipped over the crossbar before nestling on the roof of the net.
The visitors came out from the half-time break the better side with Emma Jones and Georgie Freeland combining to create what was then Portsmouth’s best opportunity of the game, though the former’s shot was dragged well wide from inside the penalty area.
Clear-cut chances were few and far between for the vast majority of the second half, though Jamie-Lee Napier came close with just over fifteen minutes remaining as her powerful effort was fired just wide of the far post.
However, both sides had significant chances in added time as Meg Hornby’s free-kick found the head of Riva Casley for Portsmouth but her header was inches wide of the post, while Abi Harrison capitalised on a defensive error at the opposite end before seeing her shot blocked on the line by Grace McEwen.
While he was pleased with the win and City’s form going into the international break, Kirby was frank about the areas for improvement, stating: “I’m delighted with the outcome, the fact that we won the game, and we’ve got three points.
“The points are always the priority, so to pick up three points and win three [games] out of three is perfect for the trajectory that we want to go in as a team.
“I’m not as happy with the performance because on a different day if the same happens, we might not be picking up three points.
“It’s great to win, but I don’t want the win to mask the fact that we should have won by at least two or three.
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“We’ve got faith in our ability to defend and our shape and our individual capabilities, but if we take more of the chances that we create, then we will make the game a lot easier.
“When you don’t take chances, later on the opposition carry a little bit more hope, but if we can score when we have great one-versus-one opportunities like we had today, then we take away that little bit of that hope from the opposition.”
Despite the missed opportunities, Morgan’s early strike was enough to secure a well-deserved three points for the Robins. Her opener was the second goal that City have scored in the opening five minutes over the past week after Lloyd-Smith opened the scoring just two minutes into last Sunday’s game against Blackburn Rovers, and Kirby stated that quick starts are something that he wants his team to continue.
“It’s one of the things that we want as an identity; if we can create that over a period of time and that can be a consistent factor, that will be a worry for teams playing against us,” the Robins boss added.
“We know that we’ve got the ability to change speed and go through the gears either within our play or from a transition; it’s one of the elements of our team that is really positive. We did it quite a few times during the game, and it was great to get the goal at the end of it, but we could have done that a lot more times if I’m honest.
“But we picked up the three points; that’s the most important thing, so it’s a wonderful feeling, and we’re really happy.”