Defender Evie Gane says that Coventry United will travel to Crystal Palace with no fear this weekend.
A new-look Coventry United team face a Crystal Palace side who are being tipped by many for the Barclays Women’s Championship title at Hayes Lane in Bromley on Saturday evening.
There is absolutely no pressure on Coventry United going into the game with their opponents being the red-hot favourites to collect the three points. Defender Gane believes that The Red and Greens will take on The Eagles with no fear whilst revealing that she wants revenge for past disappointments on a personal level.
“It is definitely going to be a challenge,” Gane said when speaking to FAWSL Full-Time. “I think Palace are going to be a top team this season and they’ve made some great signings over the summer.
“I just think we are going in with the no fear factor again, we don’t fear any side and we are going to do our thing and play the way that we want to play. For me personally, I relish challenges, I want to play against players that have played in the WSL, I want to be playing top Championship players because I’m then testing myself.
“I’m excited for the game. I’ve played against them in the past with London Bees and didn’t get great results but there is an element of wanting to go and prove myself and get revenge.”
With Coventry United operating on more of a part-time model this season and with virtually a brand new playing squad, many had written the Warwickshire club off before a ball had even been kicked. Lee Burch’s side have already gone some way to proving the doubters wrong with an impressive performance in a narrow 1-0 defeat to Bristol City on opening day. Gane went on to say that survival is not the only target for Coventry United this season, they are looking up towards mid-table.
She said “We knew that it was going to be a challenging game because Bristol are a really good side who are full-time. We knew it would be difficult but one thing that we proved was that we aren’t here to be bowled over every single week, we are here to fight.
“We don’t want to be finishing at the bottom, we want to be a mid-table team pushing the top half as well. We have been thrown together in the last few weeks but we are not letting that affect us, what we can do now is look at progressing our performances week in, week out.
“We are up for the fight and we are together as a team. That was the first time some of us had played together on the pitch (against Bristol City) but I don’t think you’d have known that and that’s a really good platform and foundation to build off.”
Coventry United announced 11 player contracts just four days before the season kicked-off but the quality of some of the signings made by head coach Burch look to be impressive. Gane believes that Burch has done a great job with his recruitment in the summer transfer window.
“For sure, he’s done a really good job,” Gane said. “I came in with less than two weeks to go before the start of the season so that shows how late a lot of us came in and how little time we had.
“I had absolute faith in him and I knew from the very first chat that I had with him that he would get in good players. Not only does he have great links with players that he has previously worked with, he’s very likeable and is liked by other players who haven’t worked with him before but want to work under him. You can see that in a few of the signings that he has made.
“We’ve pulled together a really good group, an exciting group and one that has an instilled work ethic which is the bare minimum that you need and you can’t really teach. It’s really promising.”
Coventry United’s Barclays Women’s Championship fixture at Crystal Palace kicks-off at 7pm on Saturday evening.
About The Author
