Charlton Athletic head coach Karen Hills says that she is taking no interest in league placings at this early stage of the season despite The Addicks having moved to the summit after beating Watford 4-0 on Saturday, albeit for less than 24 hours.
The South East Londoners have been one of a handful of early pace-setters in the FA Women’s Championship. Having finished in a disappointing eighth place last season, The Addicks turned full-time in the summer and they have managed to set the early pace along with the likes of Durham, Sheffield United, and Liverpool.
Hills has had a very positive start to her tenure as full-time Charlton Athletic head coach with some very pleasing victories, the latest being the thumping of Watford on Saturday. Looking back on the win, Hills said that she was delighted with what she saw at both ends of the pitch.
“A clean sheet, Elise (Hughes) scoring a hat-trick and obviously, the performance after what’s been a very heavy week of football,” Hills told FAWSL Full-Time after the win at Watford.
“I think timing of goals is so critical in this league. We came out of the blocks and we went on the front-foot and we took the game to them.
“It’s always nice to score an early goal but then to score two it gives you that little bit more momentum.”
The Player of the Match was undoubtedly 20-year-old Welsh forward Hughes who joined Hills’ side over the summer and is very much enjoying life in the capital.
Speaking about the forward, Hills said “Elise has come into this team as a bit of an unknown to people down in London. I’ve known what calibre of young player she has been and does well when she goes away with her country as well.
“Just her all round domain of how she comes in, her standards are high, she works exceptionally hard on the training pitch to improve her technique. She’s still only a young a lady so she’s still got a lot to learn. Game time is really going to help but those goals are going to give her lots of confidence.”
In contrast to Charlton Athletic’s positive start, Saturday’s opponents Watford have had a much less rewarding start to the new campaign following their promotion over the summer. The Hertfordshire club have the unfavourable record of losing all their opening five fixtures but for Hills, that record doesn’t tell the full story.
She said “You couldn’t look at their results and think it’s going to be all one-way traffic. They’ve played some top teams in the league already and they’ve been unfortunate with some of their results. We knew we had to come here and be on top of our game.”
Hills’ side were very much at the top of their game as they ran out 4-0 victors, a result which saw the South East Londoners go top of the table for a brief period. However, their head coach isn’t concerning herself with the league standings at this moment in time.
“I haven’t looked at the table and if I’m honest, I don’t look at that table,” she added. “All I do is focus on what we can control and that is our performances week in, week out.”
Charlton Athletic ended the weekend in fifth position in the FA Women’s Championship, however, they have a game in hand on the sides above them and would return to the summit with three points.