Salomon praises Golden Girls’ spirit in defeat to Reading

Match action from Watford Ladies' defeat to Reading FC Women. Picture (c) AW Images (awimages.co.uk)

“I’m really pleased with the performance,” said manager John Salomon. “We couldn’t have asked for any more from all the players on the pitch, some of them ran themselves into the ground today.

“Reading were chasing promotion so they were always going to be up for today’s game and ready to perform for the victory.

“The result is disappointing but from a performance point of view, we couldn’t have asked for anything more from the individuals. That says everything about the players we’ve got working hard for us at this club.”

It was a hard fought clash between Watford Ladies and Reading. Picture (c) AW Images (awimages.co.uk)

Ellie Mason’s penalty had given the Golden Girls a way back into the match at 2-1, however any hope was dashed as Reading scored only seconds after the restart.

“It was a bit of a sucker punch really,” explains Salomon. “We’ve got ourselves back into the game, although we’ll hold our hands up and say it probably wasn’t a penalty. The referee has given it and we took advantage of that, it was a good hit from Ellie.

“The girls just didn’t focus quickly enough unfortunately and we’ve conceded soon after scoring.”

After victory in the previous fixture, an unchanged starting XI was named to line-up against the Royals.

“Those that featured today played on merit,” Salomon tells us. “They were selected last week because of their hard work in training and for their efforts recently.

“We went with the same 11 because they won the game last week and we felt it was only right to reward them for their performance against London Bees.

“We highlighted some things from that game that we needed to do better and we did that today. It’s a young group, who are working hard to improve and develop.”

Only two games remain in the 2015 campaign, a trip to Durham, before finishing the season at home to London Bees.

What is Salomon looking for from those fixtures?

“With the season coming to an end, the pressure is off us,” he says. “I think what you’re starting to see is some of the players now expressing themselves that little bit more.

“Ultimately, we want to get six more points on the board before the season finishes and we know that the players are capable of doing that.”