Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner says that this afternoon’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup fourth round tie at Bridgwater United will be an occasion to savour for the competition and the wider women’s footballing community.
The Red Devils travel to Somerset to face the giant-killers of the third round with Bridgwater United having dumped second tier side Crystal Palace out of the competition.
After drawing Manchester United in the fourth round, cup-fever has hit Bridgwater with the club set to record a first-ever sell-out at their Fairfax Park ground this afternoon. Sell-out games in the fourth round of the Vitality Women’s FA Cup are a rarity and Manchester United boss Skinner is expecting his players to have to deal with a carnival atmosphere.
“We feel really privileged to be part of the occasion and hopefully, the competition will grow and we will have more of these teams who come out from lower down the pyramid. Bridgwater absolutely deserve to be here, they have been excellent. It’ll be a wonderful tight cauldron of emotions, family feel vibes, it’ll be a really good unique experience for us.
“We will pay them the same respect that we would show any opponents, we’ve watched them and their players, we’ve been looking at their games and their tactics. We will go there and give them the utmost respect and aim to put forward the best version of ourselves. Just because they’re in a different league that means nothing, if our team are going to remain hungry to win things and be in those contentious points at the end of the season, we have to take this seriously and we will.”
Some of the Bridgwater United players previously turned out in the old FA Women’s Super League 1 for Yeovil Town prior to the club’s demise and Skinner expects them to have a point to prove.
When speaking about this, the Manchester United boss said “For sure, I have absolutely no doubt about that (Bridgwater United players having a point to prove) but so will we. We have players who want to prove that they can be a part of what we are doing and cement places in this team. The reason why we moved in this window was to give us that extra competition.
“I expect them to show the best versions of themselves and be absolutely fired up. It is our job as a team to extinguish the fire that they (Bridgwater) have and stamp our authority on the game as quick as we can.
“I have the utmost respect for their team, for their coaching staff, for their club so I am really looking forward to the challenge that they can give us but we have to make sure that we are right at our game. My message to my players will be to ensure that we are right at our game from nought to 90.
“It’ll be a wonderful occasion I’m sure but we need to focus on our job and what we can do to the opponent.”
The Vitality Women’s FA Cup fourth round tie between Bridgwater United and Manchester United kicks-off at 2pm.
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