Blackburn Rovers boss Gemma Donnelly was disappointed with her side’s 2-1 defeat to Sunderland in the FA Women’s Continental League Cup last night.
First half goals from Grace McCatty and Holly Manders handed Rovers a defeat in their opening game in this season’s competition. Farah Crompton’s goal late on did offer a glimmer of hope for Rovers but it wasn’t enough to take the game to penalties.
In her post-match interview with FAWSL Full-Time, Donnelly said that she was disappointed with the first half performance
from her side but was more pleased with a much better second half display.
“I thought in the first half, we probably didn’t do enough,” Donnelly said. “We conceded from a defensive corner which I thought they looked threatening from throughout. I thought then we took a foothold for about 15-20 minutes and played some nice football.
“They climbed into the game, Sunderland, and they’ve scored two goals in relatively quick succession from set pieces.
“We mixed it up a bit in the second half, brought on some starting XI players and we pulled a goal back. It probably could have been one or two more if we would have had that clinical touch in front of goal.”
The Lady Black Cats looked a threat all night from set pieces with both goals coming from that method. Donnelly spoke about this and said it was disappointing after previously warning her players of the visitors’ threats.
She said “They were warned about it, I think from the seven goals they’ve scored, five have come from set pieces so to concede from two set pieces is disappointing.
“We didn’t deal with it well at all but as a positive, it gives us something to work on.”
Substitute Crompton came on from the bench and pulled one back for Rovers, that goal was her second in as many games. Donnelly was pleased for the youngster and spoke of the impact that she made.
“We know she can create opportunities and as soon as she’s come on, she draws a couple of fouls,” Donnelly said. “She’s quick to get into the areas using her pace and I thought she added value when she came on.”
Rovers are back in action on Sunday when they travel to Liverpool in the FA Women’s Championship.
By Matthew Ward