Reading captain Natasha Harding says that she does not see any reason why her side cannot take something from their opening fixture of the season against Manchester United at The Leigh Sports Village tomorrow night.
The Royals return to the scene of arguably their best result of last season, Kelly Chambers’ side defeated Manchester United 2-0 in Leigh back in February.
Chambers has gone for experience in the summer transfer window and while the Reading squad is relatively small, The Royals do boast plenty of quality in their ranks.
One player who got her name on the scoresheet the last time that Reading faced Manchester United in February was captain Harding. She netted the first goal against The Red Devils and she sees the latest meeting as another good opportunity to get points on the board.
“For me, looking at the first game, I can’t see why we can’t get a point or three away to them because it has happened before;” Harding said in a FAWSL media session. “For us, it is about looking after ourselves as a squad to influence the things that we believe on the night will beat them because they certainly have weaknesses like every team does.
“For us, it is about doing that and taking confidence from taking three points and a clean sheet away from home last time.
“The majority of their players are still the same, ok they have got a new manager so it might be a difficult period for them. I am not saying that they are not good enough.
“You have to take confidence from beating them last year and I think I speak on behalf of the majority of the squad when I say that we will take that into the first game.”
Reading were beaten by Brighton & Hove Albion to a top half of the table finish on the final day of last season and Harding says that sixth should be the target for her side this year.
She added “We have to be realistic about our expectations. I can’t sit here and say top three, I’d love to but other teams have strengthened so much, look at Everton.
“For me, our target is probably to compete and be better than Brighton, that’s me being the complete honest professional. That’s the realistic challenge and if things go better, I’ll be the first to hold my hands up and say that I didn’t expect that. For me, if we get three or four points against the top four teams over two games that’s an incredible achievement.”
Reading’s opening Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture at Manchester United kicks-off at 7.45pm tomorrow evening. Tickets will be on sale up until kick-off on a digital only basis, no paper tickets will be printed.
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