Birmingham City head coach Carla Ward says that this afternoon’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup fifth round tie against Southampton will not be an easy assignment for her side.
The Blues face a Southampton outfit who play their football in the fourth tier but they stunned Lewes with a 2-1 victory at The Dripping Pan in the fourth round, the only giant-killing recorded at that stage.
Speaking to FAWSL Full-Time ahead of the match, Ward said that Southampton will provide a real test for her side.
“Southampton have Marieanne Spacey-Cale and Loz Phillips who are exceptional coaches, really experienced coaches, so it’s not going to be an easy afternoon that’s for sure and I’ve made the girls very aware of that,” said Ward.
“They will be really well organised and they ran Leicester close 2-1 in a friendly last week, that shows you what they are about.
“They’re in the fourth tier but they are far better than that, I think personally, they could compete in the Championship if I’m honest having seen a little bit of them and that’s credit to Marieanne and Lauren Phillips.
“It’s going to be a tough afternoon, it really is. We are going to have to be at it and not take Southampton lightly.”
Ward will leave Birmingham City after this afternoon’s game after offering her resignation in midweek and she says that every player is eager to feature in her final fixture.
The Blues boss joked “It’s funny because they are all in there asking the physio ‘Can I go on the bench?’ or ‘Can I come off the bench for two minutes, five minutes, eight minutes?’
“We’ve got more than we did last week, Christie Murray should be fit which is nice and Emma (Kelly) has just told me that she is fit but we will ask the physio and see what they say because they all try to tell me they’re fit until I speak to the physio.
“I’d like to think that we will have a couple of the academy youngsters on the bench to make up the numbers.”
Birmingham City’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup fifth round tie against Southampton is scheduled to kick-off at 12.30pm and will be streamed live on the club’s official Facebook page.
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