Bristol City Women’s head coach Steve Kirby has admitted he was left disappointed after his side’s 1-1 draw with Charlton Athletic, with the result at Ashton Gate leaving the Robins 10 points off of top spot.
The points were shared in BS3 on Sunday afternoon, with Katie Bradley’s long-range strike in the second half cancelling out City’s opener which had come before the break via the head of Charlton defender Ellie Brazil. After the full-time whistle, Kirby was irritated to see his side drop points.
“It’s a really frustrating result,” he stated. “We went for the win and we only came for the win. We didn’t want to take a draw as we felt that wasn’t helpful for us at all and it’s part of our identity really, we want to push for wins, especially at home.
“Large parts of our performance was where we would want it to be, but then the final part, in terms of being more clinical, wasn’t there. Sometimes in those moments, it’s just the difference between taking one touch and two touches, that’s all it is. Being a yard to the left, a yard to the right, half a second early or half a second too late. Those are the fine margins that we’re talking about that we haven’t executed well enough today.”
Neither side was quite able to settle into the game early on, but it was the Robins who took control first. January signing Malaika Meena played a pivotal role in a counter-attack, feeding Lexi Lloyd-Smith down the right. She won a physical battle with Gracie Pearse before fizzing a shot towards goal that was nearly poked home by Emily Syme but for a vital close-range stop from Sophie Whitehouse.
The Robins continued to threaten throughout the first half. Ella Powell was the next City player to come close, though her looping header at the far post didn’t quite have enough dip on it and drifted over the bar. 12 minutes later, Lloyd-Smith came close after a great drive and cross from Syme, though her backheel was well anticipated by Whitehouse who was able to collect.
However, City would soon take the lead in a somewhat controversial fashion, as Amy Rodgers’ shot from Lloyd-Smith’s corner bounced off the post and in off the head of Brazil, with the officials judging that the ball had crossed the line.
The visitors came out fighting after the break and quickly responded with a goal of their own as a long-range strike from Bradley found the bottom-left corner. From then, the game began to open up and either team could have stolen the spoils late on. With 76 minutes on the clock, Lloyd-Smith again looked certain to score, though her drilled effort from the left took a crucial deflection off the leg of a Charlton defender.
Just minutes later, the visitors created two great opportunities of their own as Jodie Hutton played a ball across the box, before Karin Muya attempted similar moments later, but nobody in a yellow shirt was able to get on the end of either chance. The away side then came within inches of the winner as Sille Struck went to head away Bradley’s free kick, instead hitting the near post.
With seven additional minutes, they had another opportunity in injury time, countering after a City corner. Fortunately, Jess Simpson slid in with a huge block to deny Kayleigh Barton and keep the score level.
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Ultimately, it was the Robins who could have won it in the dying moments after a goalmouth scramble, but no one was able to poke it home.
With the points shared at Ashton Gate and league leaders Birmingham City winning against Southampton, the gap between the two teams is now up to ten points, with just five games remaining of the campaign. While an immediate return to the Women’s Super League may now be a difficult ask, Kirby is adamant that he’s still expecting his side to finish the year in a positive manner.
“The aim for the rest of the season is to finish as high as we can, get as close as we can and see where that takes us,” he asserted, “We’ve got five games left, so we’ll be going for five wins, and we’ll see where we end up.
“If it means that we fall short and others have done better, then we’ll have to congratulate them and hold our hands up. But we will continue to push because if we can’t get what we want this season, it will be good groundwork for what we want to do next season which will be to come back and go again to try and make it happen next year from the start.”