Brighton & Hove Albion manager Hope Powell says that her side must look to rediscover their consistency after returning to winning ways against Reading last time out.
The Seagulls defeated The Royals 4-1 at The People’s Pension Stadium three weeks’ ago. That victory ended a 10-match streak without a win.
With a much-needed three points on the board, the focus now turns to this weekend’s trip to Aston Villa and Brighton & Hove Albion boss Powell wants to see her side build some consistency.
“One of the things that we have really lacked this season is the consistency,” Powell said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “We lose the week before, we come back very strongly, lose to Leicester and come back very strongly against Chelsea.
“It is just trying to build on the positives and getting that consistency into our play and if we do that, we give ourselves the best chance of getting points on the board. It is about the players taking responsibility, taking ownership and delivering.”
Aston Villa go into the weekend as the joint-second lowest scorers in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League while Brighton & Hove Albion have netted once in five away games in all competitions. While both sides have had issues in-front of goal, Powell said that she is expecting a relatively open game.
She said “They beat us in the first game and have a little bit more depth in their squad and they’ll be firmly going for the points, as we will. There is every chance that it could be quite an open game, more open in their end than our end but I think it’ll be a tough contest.
“I don’t think they’ll just shut up shop, I don’t think that the type of players that they have got – certainly Jill Scott and Remi Allen, they are forward-thinking players who get in the box and get on the end of chances. When they attack, they will attack, when they defend, they will predominantly defend so I don’t think it’ll be about shutting up shop, I think it’ll be about two teams wanting to get points on the board.”
The Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture between Aston Villa and Brighton & Hove Albion kicks-off at 11.30am on Saturday morning. Card only turnstiles will be in operation at The Banks’s Stadium.