Bristol City head coach Lauren Smith says that her side thoroughly deserved their 3-2 victory over West Ham United after putting in some hard work in the early weeks of the season.
The newly-promoted Robins collected their first points of the campaign at The Chigwell Construction Stadium this afternoon. Amalie Thestrup, Ella Powell and Brooke Aspin were all on target for Bristol City as they got their season up and running.
Since securing promotion back to the top flight in April, Bristol City have had to put in the hours on the training pitch and learn some tough lessons along the way. Head coach Smith was thrilled to see the hard work finally pay-off as her side got off the mark against West Ham United.
“I’m so happy,” Smith said when speaking to WSL Full-Time after the match. “The players deserve it for what we’ve been working on and how we’ve progressed in a short period of time to get used to this level.
“It showed today that the hard work really matters. It was an enjoyable game of football to watch.”
After coming from a goal down to lead 2-1, Bristol City were dealt a fresh blow on the stroke of half-time as West Ham United grabbed an equaliser. Smith was pleased with how her side picked themselves up and were able to win the second half.
She said “It’s a huge turning point. When that second goal went in, we were gutted because it was our mistake. It’s those moments that really throw you a bit.
“It felt like the wind had been knocked out of us a bit at half-time but again, we’ve proved that we are good at 45-minute games and that’s what happened in the second half, we just had to go again.”
After conceding 16 times in four-and-a-half games, you could be forgiven for expecting West Ham United to find goals in the second half. Bristol City held firm though and this time, they were able to keep their opponents out with some committed defending. Smith said that the defensive improvement in the second half came from her side having to learn from their early-season experiences.
“They made some aggressive subs and were running in-behind constantly but we managed it really well,” Smith said. “That comes after being peppered in the first four games; we’ve actually got quite good at those blocks and defending the box.
“It has been a big focus of ours and today, it served us well.”
Bristol City will hope to put further distance between themselves and the relegation zone when they play host to Aston Villa in their latest Barclays Women’s Super League fixture next Sunday.
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